# Clan War League: how CWL actually works > What CWL stands for, when clan war league starts each month, how to sign up, the roster rule almost every clan gets wrong, and how the leagues work. Source: https://clanwarden.com/blog/clash-of-clans-clan-war-league Published 1 September 2026 · 6 min read · CWL Keywords: what is a cwl, cwl explained, how does cwl work, clash of clans clan war league schedule, how to start clan war league CWL stands for Clan War League. Once a month, eight clans of roughly matched strength are put in a group and each fights the other seven, one war a day for seven days. Where you finish decides whether you go up a league, and it decides how many [league medals](https://clanwarden.com/blog/clash-of-clans-league-medals) everybody takes home. That is the whole idea. Most of what confuses people is the rules around it, and one rule in particular that almost every clan has backwards. ## When it runs The 1st of every month. Sign-up opens then and stays open for two days. Matchmaking follows, then a single preparation day, then the seven war days back to back, so a season occupies roughly the 1st to the 10th. It does not shift for weekends, it is the same date in every timezone, and there is no announcement that decides it. This is worth knowing mostly because of what it means for the rest of the month: from about the 11th onwards there is no CWL, and a clan looking for one has three weeks to wait. ## Signing the clan up A Leader or a Co-Leader enters the clan during the sign-up window and chooses who is on the roster. Anyone else can only wait. You need **at least 15 players and can enrol up to 50**. Members set their own availability with the opt in and opt out control on their profile, but that is a preference rather than a lock: a leader can enrol somebody who has opted out of regular wars, so it is worth asking rather than assuming the button spoke for them. Miss the window and the clan sits the month out. There is no late entry. ## The rule almost everyone gets wrong **You can change who plays every single round. You cannot add anybody new.** Those are two different things and running them together is the single most common misunderstanding about CWL. The roster you enrol at sign-up is a pool, not a lineup. Each war day the leader picks 15 from that pool, and the next day they can pick a different 15. So why does half the game believe swapping is impossible? > **Because they enrolled exactly fifteen** > > If you enrol the minimum, your pool and your lineup are the same fifteen people, and there is nobody to rotate to. The game is not blocking you. There is simply no one on the bench. Enrol thirty and the rotation works immediately. That single decision, made in about four seconds during sign-up, is what determines whether you spend the next week chasing people who are asleep or just field somebody else. Enrol everyone who might play, then pick each day. There is no penalty for enrolling someone who never gets used. What you genuinely cannot do is bring in a player who was not enrolled, including a good one who joined the clan on the 4th. They wait for next month. For the same reason, a player enrolled in one clan's CWL cannot play CWL for another clan that month, even if they leave. The enrolled list stays visible to the whole clan for the whole season rather than to leadership alone, so anybody can check whether they made the roster from the Clan War League screen without having to ask. That is worth pointing out to a new member before they assume they were left out. ## War size 15v15 by default. **30v30 is available only to clans in Master I or below**, and to unranked clans, which is the opposite of what most people assume: the bigger wars belong to the lower leagues, not the higher ones. Champion and above is always 15v15. The choice is made once and holds for the whole season, so a clan picking 30v30 needs sixty attacks a day out of its roster for seven days straight. It is a commitment, not a setting. ## The leagues There are **22 rungs**, from Bronze III at the bottom up to Legend. Four of those are new. Titan III, Titan II, Titan I and Legend were added above Champion I from the May 2026 season, and Legend is a single tier rather than a set of three. Titan II and above run battle modifiers, the same handicaps Legend League uses, so the top of the ladder is deliberately harder than the rest of it. Finishing near the top of your group promotes the clan and finishing near the bottom demotes it. The league you are in is by far the biggest factor in what the season pays, which is covered properly on the [league medals page](https://clanwarden.com/blog/clash-of-clans-league-medals). ## What makes CWL different from a normal war **One attack per player per war.** Not two. That is the rule that changes everything else. In a regular war a strong attacker can cover for somebody who fluffed their first hit. In CWL nobody can cover for anybody, so one missed attack is a star deficit nothing else in the round can repair, and it is why [missed attacks](https://clanwarden.com/blog/track-missed-war-attacks-clash-of-clans) matter far more here than they do the rest of the month. There is also no scouting advantage to hold back for. You get one hit, so you take the best one available when your turn comes. ## Picking the fifteen That is the hard part, and it is a people problem rather than a rules problem, so it has [its own guide](https://clanwarden.com/blog/cwl-roster-planning-guide). The short version: publish the rule you are picking by before anyone knows the picks, because the same decision announced afterwards reads as favouritism even when it was not. **See who is worth enrolling**: Paste a clan tag for war attendance, missed attacks and CWL history across the whole roster, or a player tag for heroes, lab and equipment graded against the caps for that Town Hall. [Check a clan](https://clanwarden.com/) ## Frequently asked ### What does CWL stand for in Clash of Clans? Clan War League. It is a monthly competition where eight clans are grouped together and each one fights the other seven, one war per day, with the group order deciding promotion and league medals. ### When does CWL start each month? The 1st, every month, with no exceptions and no separate calendar. Sign-up runs for the first two days, then a preparation day, then seven war days back to back, so the season occupies roughly the 1st to the 10th. ### How do you sign up for Clan War League? A Leader or Co-Leader enters the clan during the two day sign-up window and picks between 15 and 50 members for the roster. Members can opt in or out through their profile, but a leader can enrol someone who has opted out of regular wars. ### Can you change players in CWL between rounds? Yes, you choose a fresh lineup every round, but only from the players enrolled at sign-up. Nobody new can be added once the season starts. Clans that enrol exactly fifteen have nobody to rotate to, which is why so many believe swapping is not allowed. ### How many players are in a CWL roster? Between 15 and 50 enrolled, of whom 15 fight each round, or 30 if the clan is in Master I or below and chose a 30v30 season. Champion and above is always 15v15. ## Related guides - https://clanwarden.com/blog/cwl-roster-planning-guide.md - https://clanwarden.com/blog/clash-of-clans-league-medals.md - https://clanwarden.com/blog/track-missed-war-attacks-clash-of-clans.md --- ClanWarden (https://clanwarden.com) is unofficial fan content, not affiliated with or endorsed by Supercell.