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Please be aware that none of the dates listed in the Provisional 2026 Schedule are set in stone - but it's safe to say the seasons will adhere pretty closely with this schedule. We'll be adding to the schedule throughout the year, so keep an eye out for news posts detailing those updates!

🗓️ ozfortress Provisional 2026 Schedule

A small edit: The dates for the upcoming Summer Cup will come soon, we're just locking in more details before we release anything.

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ozfortress Provisional 2026 Schedule

Please be aware that none of the dates or events listed here are locked in yet, but this schedule can serve as a general guide as to when we run competitions this year.

We have off-season competitions planned throughout the year, but we'll let you know about those closer to when they'll happen - you can count on seeing the usuals like Ultiduo, along with some new collaborations!

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Autumn

The Autumn '26 seasons are starting a little later than normal - but we promise it'll be worth the wait.

Sixes

Pre-Season

• Signups open: Friday 13th of February 2026
• Signups close, Rosters locked for Seedings: Tuesday 24th of February 2026
• Seedings released: Wednesday 25th or Thursday 26th of February 2026
• Season starts: Sunday 1st of March 2026

Reg Season

• Round 1: Sunday 1st March - Thursday 5th March 2026
• Round 2: Sunday 8th March - Thursday 12th March 2026
• Round 3: Sunday 15th March - Thursday 19th March 2026
• Round 4: Sunday 22nd March - Thursday 26th March 2026
• Round 5: Sunday 29th March - Thursday 2nd April 2026
• Roster Lock applied on Saturday 4th April 2026
• Round 6: Sunday 5th April - Thursday 9th April 2026
• Round 7: Sunday 12th April - Thursday 16th April 2026

Playoffs

• Elimination Finals Round 1: Sunday 19th April - Thursday 23rd April 2026
• Elimination Finals Round 2: Sunday 26th April - Thursday 30th April 2026
• Semi Finals: Sunday 3rd May - Thursday 7th May 2026
• Grand Finals: Sunday 10th May - Thursday 14th May 2026

Highlander

Pre-Season

• Signups open: Friday 13th of February 2026
• Signups close, Rosters locked for Seedings: Friday 27th of February 2026
• Seedings released: Saturday 28th of February or Sunday 1st of March 2026
• Season starts: Wednesday 4th of March 2026

Reg Season

• Round 1: Wednesday 4th March - Sunday 8th March 2026
• Round 2: Wednesday 11th March - Sunday 15th March 2026
• Round 3: Wednesday 18th March - Sunday 22nd March 2026
• Round 4: Wednesday 25th March - Sunday 29th March 2026
• Round 5: Wednesday 1st April - Sunday 5th April 2026
• Roster Lock applied on Tuesday 7th April 2026
• Round 6: Wednesday 8th April - Sunday 12th April 2026
• Round 7: Wednesday 15th April - Sunday 19th April 2026

Playoffs

• Page Playoffs: Wednesday 22nd April - Sunday 26th April 2026
• Semi-Finals: Wednesday 29th April - Sunday 3rd May 2026
• Grand Finals: Wednesday 6th May - Sunday 10th May 2026

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Winter

Expect Ultiduo, potentially an event collab - you'll just have to wait to see!

Sixes

Pre-Season

• Signups open: Friday 5th of June 2026
• Signups close, Rosters locked for Seedings: Tuesday 16th of June 2026
• Seedings released: Wednesday 17th or Thursday 18th of June 2026
• Season starts: Sunday 21st of June 2026

Reg Season

• Round 1: Sunday 21st June - Thursday 25th June 2026
• Round 2: Sunday 28th June - Thursday 2nd July 2026
• Round 3: Sunday 5th July - Thursday 9th July 2026
• Round 4: Sunday 12th July - Thursday 16th July 2026
• Round 5: Sunday 19th July - Thursday 23rd July 2026
• Roster Lock applied on Saturday 25th July 2026
• Round 6: Sunday 26th July - Thursday 30th July 2026
• Round 7: Sunday 2nd August - Thursday 6th August 2026

Playoffs

• Elimination Finals Round 1: Sunday 9th August - Thursday 13th August 2026
• Elimination Finals Round 2: Sunday 16th August - Thursday 20th August 2026
• Semi Finals: Sunday 23rd August - Thursday 27th August 2026
• Grand Finals: Sunday 30th August - Thursday 3rd September 2026

Highlander

Pre-Season

• Signups open: Friday 5th of June 2026
• Signups close, Rosters locked for Seedings: Friday 19th of June 2026
• Seedings released: Saturday 20th or Sunday 21st of June 2026
• Season starts: Wednesday 24th of June 2026

Reg Season

• Round 1: Wednesday 24th June - Sunday 28th June 2026
• Round 2: Wednesday 1st July - Sunday 5th July 2026
• Round 3: Wednesday 8th July - Sunday 12th July 2026
• Round 4: Wednesday 15th July - Sunday 19th July 2026
• Round 5: Wednesday 22nd July - Sunday 26th July 2026
• Roster Lock applied on Tuesday 28th July 2026
• Round 6: Wednesday 29th July - Sunday 2nd August 2026
• Round 7: Wednesday 5th August - Sunday 9th August 2026

Playoffs

• Page Playoffs: Wednesday 12th August - Sunday 16th August 2026
• Semi-Finals: Wednesday 19th August - Sunday 23rd August 2026
• Grand Finals: Wednesday 26th August - Sunday 30th August 2026

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Spring

Also starting closer to on-time than the Autumn seasons, but we have some action planned to run in-season and in the off-season after too!

Sixes

Pre-Season

• Signups open: Friday 18th of September 2026
• Signups close & Rosters locked for Seedings: Tuesday 29th of September 2026
• Seedings released: Wednesday 30th of September or Thursday 1st of October 2026
• Season starts: Sunday 4th of October 2026

Reg Season

• Round 1: Sunday 4th October - Thursday 8th October 2026
• Round 2: Sunday 11th October - Thursday 15th October 2026
• Round 3: Sunday 18th October - Thursday 22nd October 2026
• Round 4: Sunday 25th October - Thursday 29th October 2026
• Round 5: Sunday 1st November - Thursday 5th November 2026
• Roster Lock applied on Saturday 7th November 2026
• Round 6: Sunday 8th November - Thursday 12th November 2026
• Round 7: Sunday 15th November - Thursday 19th November 2026

Playoffs

• Elimination Finals Round 1: Sunday 22nd November - Thursday 26th November 2026
• Elimination Finals Round 2: Sunday 29th November - Thursday 3rd December 2026
• Semi Finals: Sunday 6th December - Thursday 10th December 2026
• Grand Finals: Sunday 13th December - Thursday 17th December 2026

Highlander

Pre-Season

• Signups open: Friday 18th of September 2026
• Signups close & Rosters locked for Seedings: Friday 2nd of October 2026
• Seedings released: Saturday 3rd or Sunday 4th of October 2026
• Season starts: Wednesday 7th of October 2026

Reg Season

• Round 1: Wednesday 7th October - Sunday 11th October 2026
• Round 2: Wednesday 14th October - Sunday 18th October 2026
• Round 3: Wednesday 21st October - Sunday 25th October 2026
• Round 4: Wednesday 28th October - Sunday 1st November 2026
• Round 5: Wednesday 4th November - Sunday 8th November 2026
• Roster Lock applied on Tuesday 10th November 2026
• Round 6: Wednesday 11th November - Sunday 15th November 2026
• Round 7: Wednesday 18th November - Sunday 22nd November 2026

Playoffs

• Page Playoffs: Wednesday 25th November - Sunday 29th November 2026
• Semi-Finals: Wednesday 2nd December - Sunday 6th December 2026
• Grand Finals: Wednesday 9th December - Sunday 13th December 2026

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Spring '25 Round Bans

• Wicked Fabrications Banned for the remainder of Sixes Spring '25.
• danci Banned for the remainder of Sixes Spring '25.

TLDR

• STAFF NEEDED:
  • We're looking for staff, in particular, newer people, new blood. Consistent staff turnover has prompted us to look for those who haven't been around for over a decade.
  • In addition, staff burnout and player attitude towards staff has been a noted reason as to why a few have stepped down in recent history (this isn't the case for every staff member who has stepped down, but it's come up enough that it needed mentioning).
  • Not only are we looking for new blood, we're looking for people who have a passion for TF2, and a drive to not only take ozfortress into the future, but be around for years to come.
  • Chili, cryo, omni and redja have stepped down. Sperkle will be stepping down by the end of the year/in the new year.
  • core will be stepping down/further away within the next year.
• Ban Posts are no longer being posted on the website.
• Infractions/Behaviour Management will be seeing changes, we want to untie our hands to be able to better deal with weirdos, essentially.
• Nothing changes for now, we'll continue running things smoothly like always, but we need roles filled.

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First, we're looking for staff!

You've likely seen our "We Need You" posts in the past. This is different. We are looking to fill staff positions in most roles, but in particular, we are looking for new league administrators with ambition, drive and commitment to bring ozfortress into the future. These are always nice to see in candidates, but we are looking for those qualities with more necessity than we have before.

We will always cherish the work our volunteers put in and respect the commitment they give to us and our community, but staff turnover in recent years has increased, and there are some consistent factors.

Part staff burnout

And part this, part that. It's not just these two factors, but it’s significant enough to warrant discussing. Staff burnout is hard to fix, and it's something we've worked on improving over the last few years, so beyond saying that we've done what we can to make league administrator workload more manageable than it was in the past, we'll say this; we'll always support our staff in any way we can, and we won't lie and say the workload is nothing - but if you could play one of our competitions on a team who scrims a few couples times a week, that's about the maximum amount of time we'd expect of you.

Part resentment towards negative player attitude

Resentment doesn't necessarily encompass it, but more than a few retired staff members and current staff members would probably agree that we're over it. To be clear, the majority of this community are almost always great, but I would be remiss in neglecting to mention that the minority who on purpose aim to be moronic, intentionally difficult to communicate with, just because you can be, you are who we are talking about. I will always be completely open to fair criticism, voicing your opinion on changes, even your dissatisfaction with behavioural bans against your friends or circle jerks. At the end of the day, we do what we can to make everything as fair as we can, and that's always been a principle I try to instil in our league administration. You might have noticed that as of late, I have been far more unavailable than ever, to which I just want to thank everyone who has stepped up in my absence, but it's provided me some clarity on how we really have been tolerating what are frankly, just fucking tantrums, too often. We have rulesets for a reason, and we aim to make very little use of our "we can amend or make decisions outside of this ruleset at our discretion" clauses very sparingly, but if your goal is to get your own way in breach of our rulesets, or to just be a pest, fuck around and find out.

What are we looking for in applicants?

Frankly, in the past, we've knocked back most applications that seem low effort. As much as this is just a few hours a week, volunteering for a community-run league kind of thing that, in the grand scheme of things, low priority in everyone's daily life - low effort applications that are often just slightly over a few sentences really does not make a good impression, nor does it demonstrate reliability or any interest in long term commitment. We will always be thankful for any time our volunteers can volunteer, but the turnover of staff we have had lately has admittedly made it harder to keep filling those roles, and it means much more time spent teaching. While we're aiming to improve how we do that, turnover is still an issue, and one that is not the fault of those who step away.

Beyond that, we're looking for people who are willing to step up and take over eventually. If you think that's you, or you have a drive to help with keeping seasonal leagues going, application templates and submission links can be found here.

ozfortress into 2026 and beyond

You've likely already seen that with the seasonal league signups opening, a few staff members have stepped down, and we would like to thank them for their time, their energy, and frankly, a part of their sanity. In particular, we'd like to thank Chili, who stepped up after multi's attempted Irish goodbye. In Chili's time, he kept a watchful eye over four seasons of Sixes and was invaluable in keeping ozfortress going. In addition to Chili stepping down, cryo, omni, and redja are also stepping down.

That's not everyone. In the next season or so, Sperkle will also be stepping down from being Highlander Head Admin. So you can probably see how there's a void we're looking to fill, and they're big shoes to fill.

But wait, there's more

I've had who knows how many versions of this announcement drafted for months and months now, not to mention how many conversations I've had with people about this. I don't know how many times I've told people either, but it's time. Whilst I originally hoped to have announced this ages ago, I am aiming to step down from being the League Director. I don't intend to leave ozfortress completely, nor do I intend to leave anything unsettled, so I can't say with certainty when, but ideally within a year, preferably less. With ozfortress picking up Highlander nearly four years ago now, the workload of keeping things afloat is admittedly lower than you might think, but ozfortress deserves someone with far more passion and drive for TF2 than I have these days. Even before starting Respawn League, I was helping run events, so I've been doing this now for over eight years, and frankly, I should have stepped away a while ago.

We need you, new blood!

That's our biggest focus right now, we need people who are not only going to be around a bit longer, but who have the passion to take ozfortress into the future. If you think that's you, apply using the links above.

Website posts are changing

Going into 2026, we'll be changing how we use our website for news posts. We've already cut down what we post on our website to just essential news posts and ban posts, but the latter will be disappearing. We briefly alluded to this in the most recent ban post in our Discord, but going forward, all ban posts will be in our Discord. There are a few reasons, but the main reason is, ban posts are a bad look, and frankly, they don't need to be posted on our website. Practically everyone is already in our Discord, so everyone will see them anyway. We will be working to further refine how we list bans on our website going forward, including game server bans and their duration.

Infractions and behaviour management in ozfortress

We'll detail this in its own post soon, but changes are coming to our Infractions Ruleset, and a lowering of our tolerance for severe breaches, and in particular, we'll be making it easier to dispatch of the worst of the worst.

A lot of change, so what's next?

Things will continue to operate as normal; we just need to make some decisions and fill some roles. And we aim to keep everyone running smoothly for the foreseeable future, and there are still a few things I would like to get done and launch before I step down, or more likely, step back.

Regarding Experimental Cup IV & automatic role assignment, you should already have your roles, but if you don't, you can link your Discord and you'll receive your roles when everything kicks off later!

While this may not seem like the most exciting news post ever, please stick with it, because it is genuinely exciting for us and opens up a lot of possibilities for further integration for our services and any third-party/community services.

DISCORD LINKING!!!

Yeah, it's in the title, but we are (I am) excited, ok. You can now link your Discord account to your ozfortress.com account. For now, this will display your Discord account ID and a clickable link on your profile/user page, but we will be working to bring more features in the future. Currently, the biggest feature for anyone who has used our Captains Discord in a seasonal league or off-season event, automatic role assignment.

Captains Discord & Automatic Role Assignment

When asked to join the Captains Discord (or if you've been a captain in recent seasons), you will now be able to go to the #setup channel for a clickable button to begin linking your Discord account to your ozfortress.com account, or you can follow our guide. Or, you can just wing it; it's in the User Settings page, under your username dropdown top-right. Once linked, anytime a new season or event is set up in the Discord, your roles will be applied. It's really that simple. If a season or event is already active, you can run the /sync command in any Discord channel in our Team Captains Discord to have your roles assigned.

Discord Linking & The Future

Our guide has a brief FAQ that will be expanded, but there are likely going to be questions regarding what we plan to do with this feature moving forward, if we plan on putting any restrictions or requirements in place, etc.

Future Possibilities

We won't ramble too much, but here's some of what we could do:
- Use this feature for Discord verification in our public Discords.
- Integration with our public and private Discord's (maybe role-related features).

I'm sure there are far more possibilities, just as I am sure you could find possible ways to integrate it into your own service if you're a pug group/website. If you don't already have an API key, please feel free to reach out to me on Discord to get one (@coreobs, just be aware we only hand them out to those with legitimate use cases.

Requirements?

Many of you may already know what we could do with this feature, so we'll come out and say it. Eventually, we'd like to make Discord linking required to access some of our services, mainly Discord services. To be clear, none of this is coming anytime soon, and we'll announce any major feature addition to Discord Linking well ahead of its deployment. We just wanted to ensure we float our ideas, so it's clear what we'd like to do in the future.

As for any possible restrictions or requirements in the future, all we can say is we are thinking about prevention and protection methods to combat the usage of alternate accounts, but we'll leave out the details for now until we know what, or more importantly, if it's something we'd like to do.

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Discord linking provides us with an immense amount of possibilities for future integrations, and we'd like to thank our development team for bringing this to fruition.

START LINKING YOUR DISCORD | Linking Guide

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The users below have received Permanent Bans from ozfortress. This ban type will prevent them from using our services indefinitely. If you are found aiding permanently banned individuals in evading their bans, you will face hefty league bans, which were recently increased for those found aiding permanently banned individuals in ban evasion.

Permanent Bans

Jackathan STEAM_0:0:177620065

This person has been permanently barred from all ozfortress properties due to severe breaches of our Community Guidelines.

nxs STEAM_0:0:48363852

This person has been permanently barred from all ozfortress properties due to severe breaches of our Community Guidelines.

Infraction Ban

Wergy STEAM_0:1:83186357

This player has accrued a total of 60 ozfortress infraction points after just serving out a ban and being on probation. As such, the player has been banned from ozfortress.com, the community's competitions, and all other ozfortress properties for 1 year, after which they will serve a 12-month probation, in which any reoffence will double the severity of the penalty. Their ban duration will be extended if they are found ban-evading during their ban.

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Changes to Permanent Bans Coming

Up until now, we have made sparing use of permanent bans within ozfortress, typically reserving them for the worst within our community. This has left consistent severe repeat offenders in a loop of endlessly having their bans reset, extended or reapplied. To be 100% real with everyone, this is a waste of our time, your time, and does nothing but harm our community. Going forward, we will be making changes to who we consider permanent bans applicable to. We'll go into more detail in our next behaviour-focused post, coming shortly.

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Should any teams, groups or individuals within ozfortress be found housing the listed player/s, they will face hefty league bans.