A new, tidy format will be applied to the future seasons of the ESL Challenger League.

ESL has announced the transfer of a new format for the ESL Challenger League (ECL), their top -level online tournament, where high -performance teams will win the right to attend the ESL Pro League. ECL will switch from the group stage to end with the playoff round to organize a separate four "cup", with each cup awarded a place to attend the regional final round at the end of the season. Those who win the regional finals in each year will win the ESL Pro League Season 23 next year.

This change is given to ensure compatibility with VRS and comply with Valve's tournament operation requirements, which the current structure of ECL does not meet. ESL said the new format "will require less commitments from the participating teams (so that they are more flexible in playing in other tournaments)", and "will request to play fewer matches to be eligible to attend the ESL Pro League."

Format

The old format will be removed. Instead, each area will hold four "cups" in the Winning-Double-Elimination branch format during the next season, with each cup that takes place within two weeks. At the end of these four cups, each area will hold a regional final round of four teams, which are the champions of the four cups. The format of the regional final round will change if a team won more than one cup.

If a team won two in four cups, they would go straight to the final of the regional finals. If a team wins three Cups, the regional final round will only have two teams, and the three -cup winning team will have an advantage to lead a map in the final. If a team wins all four cups, the regional finals will be canceled and the team will go straight to the ESL Pro League Season 23.

In addition, all Bo1 matches will be completely removed, and all matches in all areas will be played in the BO3 format.

ESL Pro League qualifier

Those who win the regional finals in each region, or team winning all four regional cups, will enter the ESL Pro League Season 23.

Qualifying Cups of ESL Challenger

The Cup participants will be allocated through a combination of VRS invitations and rankings at the highest ESA tournament of the region, namely the 52 and 53 seasons. The First -class team at ESEA will be invited to attend all four cups, the second -class team invited three cups, the third -class team is invited two cups and the fourth -class team is only invited to attend the first cup. Particularly, the Oceania area will only level two for the first team and one for the second team.

Because these cups are classified as the Tier-2 event according to Valve's system, the top 12 teams on the global VRS rankings will not be eligible to accept the invitation.

Detailed details by region

The number of teams participating in each cup, as well as the mechanism of invitation and bonus allocation, will be slightly different depending on the area. To see the full details for each specific area, visit the official website of ESL.