This article explains the key dates, times, game information, and more for the HSEL Premier 2025 competition. Please ensure that all team members are aware of the HSEL GENERAL TOURNAMENT RULES before registration. Please see the HSEL Registration Guide for more details on signing up.
Key Dates
| Item | Date |
| Registration Open | 12/9 |
| Registration Close | 2/12 |
| Qualifiers | 2/3 - 2/21 |
| Regular Season | 2/24 - 3/28 |
| Playoff Seeding |
Rocket League: 3/28 Super Smash Bros.™ Ultimate: 3/25 VALORANT: 3/27 |
| Playoffs | 3/31 - 4/17 |
| Wild Card | 4/16 - 5/5 |
Game Info
All games utilize regional divisions (East, Central, West)
| Game Title | Team Size | Platform(s) | Match Length |
| Rocket League (Free) | 3v3 | Cross-platform |
Bo5 Qualifiers/Season Bo7 Playoffs/Wild Card |
| Super Smash Bros.™ Ultimate | 1v1 | Switch |
Bo5 Qualifiers/Season Bo7 Playoffs/Wild Card |
| VALORANT | 5v5 | PC |
Bo1 Qualifiers Bo3 Season/Playoffs/Wild Card |
Tournament Format
| Stage | Format | Description | Max. Matches |
| Qualifiers | Queue System | Finish with a high enough leaderboard standing to advance. 6 available queue times/days. |
5 matches |
| Regular Season | Round Robin | 2 groups of 6 (per region) play 1 match per week |
5 matches |
| Playoffs | Double Elim | Top 4 from each group (per region) advance to an 8 team playoff bracket |
6 matches |
| Wild Card | Single Elim | A last chance qualifier Premier participants who have yet to qualify for HSEL Nationals & certain undefeated Major tier participants |
6 matches |
Match Times
5:00pm in the region's dominant time zone (Eastern, Central, Pacific).
| Game | Qualifier Days | Regular Season Day |
|
Super Smash Bros.™ Ultimate |
2/3, 2/5, 2/10, 2/12, 2/17, 2/19 | Mondays |
| VALORANT | 2/3, 2/5, 2/10, 2/12, 2/17, 2/19 | Wednesdays |
| Rocket League | 2/4, 2/6, 2/11, 2/13, 2/18, 2/20 | Thursdays |
Match Rescheduling, Grace Periods, and Forfeits
From HSEL General Rule 3.1.1: HSEL Premier is intended for established and structured scholastic esports Organizations. players/rosters that receive two no-show forfeits during a season will be removed from the tournament and deemed ineligible for that season’s Wild Card.
- All participants are expected to be on time for their scheduled –or rescheduled– match. A grace period of 15 minutes will be given past the match time before HSEL will approve a no-show forfeit.
- Players/rosters that receive two no-show forfeits during a season will be removed from the tournament and deemed ineligible for that season’s Wild Card.
- All reschedule requests must be initiated before the end of week 1 on Friday, excluding unforeseeable events (eg. power/network outage, severe weather, etc.).
- Teams are encourage to work together to find a new day & time for the match, granted the request was presented within the appropriate window of time.
- Emergency reschedule requests must be sent to HSEL admins via a support ticket.
- Regular season matches may be rescheduled to any point during the regular season up until the start of the final week if agreed upon by both teams in the match chat and requested via a support ticket.
- Teams are not in any way obligated to accept a reschedule request made outside the week 1 window.
Playoffs
Click here to see the Playoff schedule
The top 4 from each group (per region), 8 total, will compete in a double elimination bracket. Rocket League and Super Smash Bros.™ Ultimate Grand Finals will have a potential bracket reset. For VALORANT, the Grand Finalist coming from the Upper Finals will have a map pick/ban advantage (see VALORANT rules 1.4.1. "Multiple Game Series Map Selection").
Wild Card
Click here to see the Wild Card schedule
The Wild Card is a single elimination Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) for any Premier participant that has not yet qualified for HSEL Nationals 2025 live in Kansas City. Nationals qualification criteria for each game's wild card is listed in the section below.
HSEL Nationals 2025 Live in Kansas City
High School Esports League (HSEL) Nationals 2025 returns to the heart of the Midwest in Kansas City! The best teams from HSEL Premier along with those advancing from the Wild Card will battle over 3 days, Friday May 30th - Sunday June 1st, to determine who is the undisputed national champion across all of high school esports.
HSEL Nationals Qualification - Rocket League & VALORANT
- (Playoffs) Grand Finalists, Top 2
- (Wild Card) Finalists, Top 2
HSEL Nationals Qualification - Super Smash Bros.™ Ultimate
- (Playoffs) Upper & Lower Finalists, Top 3
- (Wild Card) Top 3
Total Numbers: 8 Rocket League teams, 8 VALORANT teams, 12 Super Smash Bros.™ Ultimate players