ESL restructures its competitions and dispenses with CS:GO National Championships

ESLorganizer of e-sports competitions, has announced the closure of several national CS:GO championships ahead of the game’s transition to Counter-Strike 2.. The tournament operator argues that regional and national competitions will not be a “active approach” for the company going forward. As a result, its CS:GO leagues for Benelux, France, Spain, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Germany, Poland, UK and Ireland will cease to exist in 2023 or early 2024.

In practice, this means that ESL will shut down a portion of its CS:GO tournament operations. ESL and its holding company, ESL FACEIT Group, have stated that they are open to working with outside organizers to help support teams that participated in national leagues.

ESL noted in the release that the company has operated two parallel ecosystems for competitive Counter-Strike: the aforementioned national model, such as ESL Meisterschaft in Germany and ESL Premiership in the United Kingdom, and a “borderless system,” which features teams from various regions and countries competing in pan-regional tournaments.

According to the company, this resulted in. ESL focused on many tournaments at once, which led to the decision now being made public.

Ultimately, it affected our ability to focus and created a number of compatibility issues between the different ESL Pro Tour properties. Over time, it became increasingly clear that the borderless system is a much more dynamic and flexible basis for the EPT and a better way for aspiring teams and players to move up the rankings.

ESL Statements

In the same statement, the company noted that some National Championships will not operate their final seasons this year. This includes Benelux, France, Spain and Turkey. Other regional and national competitions will play a final season in 2023 before closing in 2024.

Top teams from Germany and Poland will still have the opportunity to compete in the IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne tournaments, and ESL noted that it has communicated with the affected teams to help provide “alternative opportunities“, although no information about such opportunities was provided….

With the demise of national and regional competitions, smaller regional teams currently have fewer opportunities to compete and qualify for LAN events. It is true that the EFG has a strong system of tournaments that provide a pathway to professional matchmaking such as ESEA and FACEIT, but it remains to be seen how these existing resources will be adapted to further strengthen players and teams.

National competitions will no longer be an active focus for us, but we are open to participating in third party tournaments to cater to players and teams that were used to and want to continue competing in national leagues. As we continue to create a comprehensive ecosystem with opportunities for players to move from zero to hero, we will continue, and even look to expand our existing portfolio of pan-regional Tier 2 and 3 competitions, such as ESL Challenger League and other ESEA Leagues.

Over the past few months, our FACEIT platform has played an increasingly important role in the organization of our online tournaments, e.g. the ESEA League and many qualifiers. It thus establishes itself as the first step for players who want to participate in organized games and competitions.

ESL statements to Esports Insider.