87 Teams Qualify for Esports Nations Cup Regional Stage
The national qualifiers for the Esports Nations Cup have concluded with 87 teams advancing to compete for 24 spots in the main event.
A total of 87 national teams have advanced to the regional qualifiers for the Esports Nations Cup, aiming for 24 slots in the main competition set for November 10-15 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This event boasts a prize pool of $1,320,000.
The Esports World Cup Foundation organized what it claims to be the largest open qualifier in Counter-Strike history, initially planning 96 qualifiers worldwide. However, nine of these qualifiers-five in Sub-Saharan Africa, two in North America, and two in Oceania-were canceled due to a lack of registrations, leading to the final count of 87 participating national teams.
Among those competing, several rosters incorporated well-known players. For instance, the Ukraine team featured a core from fnatic, consisting of Rodion "fEAR" Smyk, Dmytro "jambo" Semera, and Nikita "jackasmo" Skyba, who teamed up with Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev and Sergiy "DemQQ" Demchenko to gain qualification. The Bulgaria team saw the Ascend core of Teodor "SPELLAN" Nikolov, Dimitar "Skrimo" Yanulov, and Hristiyan "REDSTAR" Pironkov finish first in their qualifier.
In Germany, M80's Elias "s1n" Stein and Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich advanced with Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz and David "prosus" Hesse from BIG, featuring Jan "Swani" Müller as the coach. Sebastian "volt" Maloș qualified for the British team alongside Owen "smooya" Butterfield and others, while GenOne saw four players qualify across Belgium and France, including Thomas "Djoko" Pavoni and Pierre "Ex3rcice" Bulinge reuniting.
Noteworthy names from various national teams include Justinas "jL" Lekavicius for Lithuania and Laurențiu "lauNX" Țârlea for Romania. The North American qualifiers included Joshua "steel" Nissan and Justin "FaNg" Coakley for Canada, as well as Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa for Guatemala.
The qualifiers across various regions will take place from July 17-19, further narrowing down the teams for the Esports Nations Cup.