From major storylines to offseason shakeups to which new teams -- if any -- can break into the upper echelon, we've got you covered for the club season.
July 10, 2026 by Edward Stephens, Aidan Thomas and Graham Gordon in Preview
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2026 club ultimate season is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
Just before Pro-Elite Challenge West, the second version of the first stop on the Triple Crown Tour and first big event of the 2026 club season, we’ve got you covered on all the major storylines, players to watch, and hot takes in the Club Men’s Division.
Club Division 2026 Primers: Men’s | Mixed | Women’s
To stay updated on the evolving storylines, teams, players, and games this season, support Ultiworld’s club season coverage and visit our subscription page.
Major Storylines
Is It Machine’s Turn?
Nineteen straight Nationals Appearances. Fourteen straight bracket appearances. Seven straight quarterfinal appearances. Three finals appearances in the last six season. And yet, zero titles.
Chicago Machine are by far the most prestigious men’s program yet to claim a title, but they’ve once again loaded up with a roster that seems ready to break that drought. Is Callahan winner Zeke Thoreson the needed X-Factor, or his UFA record-breaking teammate, Eliot Hawkins ? Or maybe it’s three-time defending club champion Aaron Bartlett coming over after two mixed titles with Ann Arbor Hybrid, and a men’s title with Truck Stop back in 2023? They join a roster full of established and emerging stars alike, with returners like Daan De Marrée, Rutledge Smith, Johnny Bansfield, William Wettengel, Sam McGuckin, Nate Goff and plenty others, as Machine can trot out a full line of All-Club contenders with subs to spare.
But of course, the games are played on the field, not on projected roster talent. When it comes down to it, Machine have been among the division’s most talented rosters for years now. Again, their roster will take time to gel, with not everyone available at the beginning of the season. The champions of the past three seasons, Revolver, Rhino Slam!, and Truck Stop, figure to all be in the mix, as do New York PoNY and Boston DiG, the finalists at the season-opening PEC East tournament. It’s a loaded and deep men’s division, but is this the year that Machine take it down?
Crashing the Final Four
For two straight seasons now, the men’s division semifinals has produced the same last four teams standing: San Francisco Revolver (2025 champions), Portland Rhino Slam! (2024 champions), New York PoNY (2024 runner-up), and Chicago Machine (2025 runner-up). We detailed Machine’s pursuit of a title above, but they are not alone in the quest to find their way onto this stage. We had a similar storyline on the college circuit this year, with Carleton, Oregon, UMass and Colorado entering as presumptive favorites to be the final four, and although there was some bumps in the road, that’s exactly what played out. Does anyone crash the party in club?
For your contenders, you have to start with Boston DiG, who significantly underperformed in not reaching that stage last year. In fact, DiG have never made semifinals, and the questions will follow them until they do so, especially after last year’s prequarterfinal exit as the no.2 seed. But the boys from Beantown came out with an early statement, winning PEC East with wins over Truck Stop, Machine, and PoNY.
On that note, Washington DC Truck Stop have to be considered a contender to get back to the final four, three years after their club title in ‘23. They’ve fallen to Rhino in the past two quarterfinal rounds. Don’t look too deeply at what their depleted roster did at PEC East – they will be back in full strength later this year, with Elliot Bonnet returning alongside a few other international adds.
Raleigh Ring of Fire look to be back after a year largely spent out of the spotlight (they kept their streak of 19 straight bracket appearances but lost their streak of ten straight quarterfinals). They add Tobias Brooks into the fold and should be right back into the quarters conversation with an opportunity to crack the final four.
There’s also the debutants to the ball last year in Philadelphia Pacmen, who made quarterfinals last year in their first season, and they retained the majority of their corps, added Antoine Davis as their major addition alongside some collegiate stars in Reid Duncan, Owen Erdman, and Becker Joseph. This team could certainly be players for a semifinal spot come October.
Finally, (I’ll save more on this for the hot takes section later in the article) keep an eye on Minneapolis Sub Zero. Their only PEC East losses were to Machine and PoNY, and this team added some premier college talent. The additions and early-season results are worth monitoring.
The Great College Recruitment Race
Leaning on great college players is nothing new for the club scene. Since time immemorial, the sport’s Fountain of Youth has never run dry, continually replenishing the ranks of top-level players with competitors forged in the gauntlet of D-I Nationals. The men’s division in 2026, however, has seen an all-out land-grab as many of the best in the game change hands. No fewer than half of the 14 2026 All-Americans from this season will tie the laces on their cleats for new teams1, and they’re poised to tip the balance in a huge way.
Look no further than 2026 D-I Player of the Year Tobias Brooks, who has already made a significant mark in the club game, posting a double-double at Club Nationals for Raleigh-Durham United in October of his freshman year at Colorado, posting another double-double for Denver Johnny Bravo the following fall, and then helping guide RDU to bid-earning position during the regular season last summer before going abroad during the postseason. He takes center stage for Raleigh Ring of Fire’s O-line this season, with more-than-encouraging results already.
Ring are far from the only team to enjoy the benefits of the college game’s brightest, though. Brooks’ Colorado teammates Zeke Thoreson and Elliot Hawkins have already proved their worth for, respectively, Machine’s D- and O-Line over the course of PEC East. (Michigan’s Aaron Bartlett will play beside them before long.) All-Americans Nate De Morgan (Carleton) and Micah Davis (Pittsburgh), meanwhile, will be essential if Sub Zero take the step forward that appears to be in the offing.
Yet to take the field, but no less attention-worthy, is 2025 D-I POTY Declan Miller, who finally leaves hometown club Seattle Sockeye and joins PoNY as his life takes him eastward. A two-way wrecking ball, Miller will add firepower to whichever of PoNY’s lines he ends up on. (2026 College Champions Ethan Lieman and Nima Lhamo, one an All-American and the other our newly crowned Defensive Player of the Year, have already been spotted on PoNY’s D-line.) And 2026 runner-up POTY, Anton Orme, rejoins defending club champs Revolver. His level of integration will be one of the keys to whether they are able to repeat.
There are plenty more notable collegiate names on the move, more than we can devote significant ink to. A list will have to suffice to whet your appetites: Caelan McSweeney on Truck Stop, Max Pettenuzzo and Justin Podnar on Toronto GOAT, Will Selfridge shifting to Atlanta Chain Lightning, and Xavier Fuzat and Mason Stone swimming with Sockeye.
Tiered Preseason Power Rankings
Tier 1 – Early Favorites
- San Francisco Revolver
- Chicago Machine
- New York PoNY
- Portland Rhino Slam!
Last season’s semifinalists, this year’s favorites, and not a single downgrade across the rosters of these four. The three that qualified for the World Ultimate Club Championships (Revolver, Machine, PoNY) may have seen slightly more action, but 2024 Club Champions Rhino Slam! return the majority of their roster. Expect to see all four of these teams trading wins across the Triple Crown Tour and bringing home a whole lot of hardware or a whole lot of disappointment.
Tier 2 – Semis Ready
- Washington DC Truck Stop
- Boston DiG
- Raleigh Ring of Fire
It’s semifinals or bust for this trio, all with similar ceilings to the tier above, but also slightly lower floors. Each of these teams had significant pickups, whether international (Truck Stop and DiG) or returning locals (Ring and DiG), in addition to an already solid core. Don’t be surprised to see these teams punch beyond this tier, but they’ll have to prove they deserve it first.
Tier 3 – Breakout or Burn Out
The story to get here could not be more different for these two, yet both lie in a vulnerable position if they fall short of success. Minneapolis Sub Zero have been in the pack for years, struggling to push forward into true title contention. Much to the contrary, Philadelphia Pacmen are just a second-year team, managing to break into quarters in their first Club Championships appearance. Both teams have had major recruiting efforts both this offseason and last, but a failure to perform might spell an end to the ability to tap into the pool of free agents.
Tier 4 – Upset Potential
- Seattle Sockeye
- Denver Johnny Bravo
- Toronto GOAT
- Austin Doublewide
Part of the beauty of the preseason is guessing which teams might spoil the high hopes of title contenders, and any of these four would be wonderful picks to do so. Veteran leadership and youthful energy are the stories of these teams, and with that comes exciting upset potential, both for and against each team. The winds of fate will determine which make a run at the bracket, and which fail to make it to San Diego altogether. Get ready for a season of ups, downs, and confusing results for each of these squads as they find their new identities.
Tier 5 – The Bid Bubble
- Raleigh-Durham United
- Portland Red Tide
- Atlanta Chain Lightning
- Vancouver Furious George
- SoCal Condors
Sixteen teams will qualify for Club Nationals, and bids are earned through solid performances throughout the regular season. On this tier are the teams that should be able to earn bids and outlast their respective regional fields, but could easily find themselves on the outside looking in. Upset potential against the top of the division is lacking, meaning the fate of these teams comes down to their own regular season performances and algorithmic antics. It’s under this pressure that teams build year-over-year success or find themselves crumbling out of relevance.
Tier 6 – Wild Cards
- Ottawa Phoenix
- Montreal Mephisto
- Virginia Vault
- Madison Mad Men
- Amherst Sprout
- Pittsburgh Temper
- Charlotte baNC
Teams like these create the fun of regionals, and nothing would mean more to these programs than a trip to the big dance. A regular season performance that earns a bid for any of these teams would require heroics, but it is far from out of the question. The following question would be whether any of these teams can defend a bid that they pulled into their region. These are the names that can be expected to see scattered across backdoor brackets and games-to-go, and even potentially in San Diego if the cards fall correctly.
Post-PEC East Rankings
Bid Range Per Region
Great Lakes – Minimum: 1 / Maximum: 2
We’re counting Ethan Lieman, who was rostered for PoNY in 2025 but did not take the field. ↩
Bonus Content for Club Season Primer 2026: Men’s Division is only available to Ultiworld Subscribers
Already have a subscription? Log in
Whether you visit Ultiworld for our reporting, our podcasts, or our video coverage, you can help us continue to provide high quality content with a subscription. By becoming a subscriber, not only do you receive benefits like bonus content and full article RSS feeds, you also help fund all of Ultiworld's coverage in general. We appreciate your support!
