Leagues

Your team plays in one of six leagues, stacked from the top to the bottom. Finish high in your conference and you move up a league; finish low and you move down. The top league plays for the Golden Cup.

The six leagues

The six leagues form one ladder, and every club can climb it. Find your league on your team page or on the World page under Leagues; the top of the ladder is the Golden Hockey League, where the Golden Cup is played for.

Level	League	Short
1	Golden Hockey League	GHL
2	Silver Hockey League	SHL
3	Bronze Hockey League	BHL
4	Copper Hockey League	CHL
5	Iron Hockey League	IHL
6	Lower Iron Hockey League	LIHL

Each league has its own page with Home, Standings, Schedule, Playoffs, Stats and History. Its masthead shows the league’s salary cap, its reputation and what the season puts at stake in each conference. The level sets both the cap and the reputation: the cap is smaller at each step down, and the reputation lower. See salary cap.

The game gets rougher further down the ladder. Fights break out more often at each step down, and the referees in the two lowest leagues call more penalties. What makes a player take penalties or drop the gloves is on player personality.

Conferences and the regular season

Each league has 28 teams in two conferences, East and West, of 14 teams each. Your standing is your place in your own conference, and that place is what counts at the end of the season.

The regular season is 80 games: four against each team in your conference and two against each team in the other. The league page’s Schedule shows every game in the league, and the Schedule on your team page shows your own.

The standings show one conference at a time and rank teams by points, then goal difference, then goals scored, then wins. A regulation win is worth 3 points, an overtime or shootout win 2, and an overtime or shootout loss 1. A legend under the standings marks the positions that go up, play off, or go down, and a club that has won promotion carries a P, one that is relegated an R.

Promotion and relegation

Where you finish in your conference decides next season’s league. The top two go up directly, the bottom two go down directly, and the places around them play off.

League	Golden Cup or promoted	Promotion playoff	Safe	Relegation playoff	Relegated
GHL	1st–8th: Golden Cup	—	9th–10th	11th–12th	13th–14th
SHL, BHL, CHL	1st–2nd	3rd–6th	7th–10th	11th–12th	13th–14th
IHL	1st–2nd	3rd–6th	7th–8th	9th–12th	13th–14th
LIHL	1st–2nd	3rd–10th	11th–14th	—	—

The positions are per conference: East and West each send the same number up and down. The GHL has no promotion, and the LIHL no relegation.

Clubs change leagues on the last day of the season. Your final position also adds to your team’s reputation and to your own experience as a manager; see team reputation and manager career.

Playoffs

After the regular season come the playoffs. Every series is best of five: the first team to three wins takes it, and the games left in the series are not played.

Follow them on the league page’s Playoffs, which shows the bracket and lets you switch between Golden Cup, Promotion and Relegation. In the first round the best-placed team meets the lowest-placed one.

The Golden Cup

The top eight in each conference of the GHL play for the Golden Cup. There are four rounds: the first round, the second round, the conference finals and the Golden Cup final, where the East champion meets the West champion. The champions are shown on the World page.

Promotion playoffs

A promotion playoff is played within each conference, with no final between East and West. In the SHL, BHL, CHL and IHL, the playoff’s winner in each conference goes up. In the LIHL the promotion playoff is wider and sends up two clubs from each conference.

Relegation playoffs

A relegation playoff is also played within each conference. The loser of a series goes down and the winner stays. In the GHL, SHL, BHL and CHL, 11th meets 12th. In the IHL it is a single round, 9th against 12th and 10th against 11th, and both losers go down.

Moving up or down

When your team changes league, your contracts change with it. If your team is fighting relegation, look at who carries a One way contract: those players leave if you go down.

• Going up. A player with a Promotion contract gets a raise to suit the new league. Most of the rest keep their salary.
• Going down. A player on a One way contract leaves as a free agent. Most other players take a pay cut to suit the lower league, and their contract gains the Promotion contract and One way contract clauses.

Your affiliate moves too if its league no longer suits your new level; see affiliate teams. Your salary cap changes with your league, and the move clears your dead cap; see salary cap. Contract clauses and everything a league move does to a contract are explained in player contracts.

The league you play in also decides whom you can trade with: clubs in your own league, the league above and the league below. A player on a One way contract can’t be traded to the league below. See trades. And when a free agent weighs several offers, a league’s reputation is among the things that draw him, so moving up helps you sign players.

Non-playable leagues

Every world also has leagues you can’t manage a team in: senior leagues across Europe and North America, affiliate leagues and junior leagues. Their clubs play, train and sign players, and some of their players can be signed by you.

You find them on the World page under Leagues: first the Playable leagues, then the Affiliate leagues, then the other leagues country by country. A league’s page lists its clubs.

Clubs in these leagues play games and train like any other, so their players gain experience and develop. The senior clubs also sign free agents, which means they compete with you on the market.

Signing from a non-playable club

You can’t make an offer to a player under contract at a non-playable senior club unless your club holds his rights; you can sign him once he is a free agent. Signing a prospect whose rights you hold is on youth draft.

A player under contract with a team in the six playable leagues can’t be approached either; he comes only through a trade, or once he is a free agent.

Junior leagues

Most countries also have a junior league for players under 18. No club can offer a contract to a player under 18. You get a junior through the youth draft, which gives you his rights; once he turns 18, the club holding his rights is the only club in the six leagues that may approach him.

Affiliate leagues

The affiliate leagues are where clubs’ affiliate teams play, from a level that suits each parent club. See affiliate teams.

Worth knowing

• In a relegation playoff, losing one series sends you down; in the IHL it is a single round and both losers drop.
• Most players who follow you down a league pick up the One way contract clause, so a second relegation frees them.
• A club that has won promotion carries a P in the standings, but it plays out the season in its old league and moves on the last day.
• A player on a One way contract can’t be traded to a club in a lower league.
• A league’s reputation counts when a free agent picks between offers, so moving up helps you sign players.