Key Highlights:
- The NHL 24 World Championship returns in January 2024, with registration scheduled to open in December.
- Six players will advance to the in-person World Final, comprising four North American and two European competitors.
- Winners and runners-up from all 32 NHL Club Championships will qualify for the North American knockout stage.
The National Hockey League has announced the return of the EA Sports NHL 24 World Championship, confirming an expanded qualification structure and a six-player in-person final scheduled for April 2024.
According to the NHL’s official tournament announcement, registration will open in December 2023, with competitive play beginning in January. The tournament will conclude in April, bringing the esports season closer to the end of the NHL’s regular season.
Four North American competitors and two European players will advance to the World Final, where they will compete for the championship title, a championship belt and a grand prize.
The NHL has not yet announced the final event’s exact date, location or prize amount.
One of the biggest changes concerns qualification through the 32 NHL Club Championships.
Previously, winning a Club Championship provided a route into the North American knockout stage. For NHL 24, both the champion and runner-up from each club tournament will automatically qualify.
Those players will also receive higher seeding than competitors entering through the Online Open qualifiers.
I think extending qualification to club runners-up is the most meaningful change to the format. It creates 64 potential club-based knockout places rather than 32, giving more players a direct route into the North American Championship without increasing the number of World Final positions.
The North American competition will also include a qualifying event during the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto, scheduled for February 1 to 4.
The four highest-placed competitors from that event will receive top seeds for the North American Console Finals.
European players will have additional opportunities through two Open Play events: the New Year’s Tournament and EU Chel Challenge.
The winner and runner-up on each console at both events will advance to European Bracket Play with higher seeding.
Not every event will contribute towards World Championship qualification, however.
The 2024 NHL Stadium Series esports tournament will remain separate. Club champions representing the New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils will compete for a commemorative trophy and bragging rights, rather than World Championship places.
The competition will use Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) for its main qualifying stages, with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players able to participate.
NHL 24 introduces same-generation cross-play between PlayStation and Xbox in HUT and World of Chel, allowing players on the two console platforms to compete against one another in supported modes.
However, the in-person North American Championship, European Championship and World Final events will take place exclusively on PlayStation 5.
The World Championship announcement comes just days before NHL 24 launches on October 6 for PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
Further information about registration, qualifying dates, tournament rules and streaming schedules will be published through the official championship website.
Later update: GLN subsequently covered NHL 24’s launch and Hockey Ultimate Team additions, including the competitive mode used throughout World Championship qualification.
The tournament concluded on April 7, 2024, in New York City, with six players reaching the World Final as originally planned.
Ethan “Polgz” Kerr-Polgar, representing the Toronto Maple Leafs, became the NHL 24 World Champion after defeating fellow Maple Leafs representative Justin “Regs” Reguly in a best-of-three final.
Polgz won the opening game 3-2 in overtime before Regs responded with a 5-0 victory. The championship was decided in Game 3, where Polgz secured a 5-3 win to claim the series 2-1.
The victory earned Polgz the $30,000 grand prize and a custom hockey stick trophy, while Regs received $10,000 as runner-up.
The NHL’s official championship results also confirmed that the two regional champions, Matthew “Gren” Grenier of North America and Erik “Eki” Tammenpää of Europe, had earned direct semifinal places but were both eliminated before the final.
The expanded qualification format therefore delivered the planned six-player international finale, although the championship itself was ultimately contested between two Canadian competitors representing the same NHL club.
