ESL revamps Challenger League format

ESL has revealed the new format for the ESL Challenger League (ESL) with the new format revamping the playoffs format. The changes will come into effect from the new ECL season, which kicks off in August.

ESL states that their new structure will 'better align with the VRS structure'. Moving forward ECL will 'require less commitment from participating teams (so they can be more flexible with competing in other tournaments), it will be more compact, and will require less matches played to qualify into ESL Pro League.'

ESL has also announced that all BO1s will be removed with the format moving to BO3s for all regions.

Format

The previous existing ECL format will be removed and the regions now will host 4 double elimination cups that will take place across two weeks. The top four winning teams from these cups will move to a regional finals event, although the format of the regionals finals will depend on the number of winners of the cups.

If there is a single team winning two cups, they will move directly into the regional event grand final while if a single team wins three cups, then the regional finals will be a two-team tournament, with the three-cups winning team and the winner of the fourth cup. If any team wins all four of the individual cups, that team will directly qualify for the ESL Pro League, with the first set of the cups providing qualification to ESL Pro League Season 23.

All the winners of the regional finals event will qualify for the ESL Pro League events. The slots for these cups will be provided via VRS invites and also based on placement in the ESEA leagues.

The Asia cups are ranked Tier-2 events with each having a prize money of $10,000 and slots for 16 teams. The cups will follow a double elimination format with the online servers being China, SEA and East Asia.

The dates for the cups for Asia are:

• Cup #1 - August 11th - August 15th & August 26th - August 29th

• Cup #2 - September 8th - September 12th & September 17th - September 20th

• Cup #3 - October 5th - October 9th &October 14th - October 17th

• Cup #4 - October 25th - October 29th & November 10th - November 13th

• Asia Regional Finals - November 20th - November 22nd

Further details including a detailed breakdown of the format changes, slot distributions, prize pool adjustments etc. can be found here.