24 Nations Qualify for Inaugural Esports Nations Cup

The qualifiers for the inaugural Esports Nations Cup have concluded, with 24 national Counter-Strike teams earning spots at the $1,320,000 LAN event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from November 10 to 15. Teams won their berths through regional qualifying tournaments held worldwide. Organisers have released the full list of qualified teams and the tournament schedule.

Notable national rosters include the United Kingdom, led by Owen “smooya” Butterfield and Oscar “AZUWU” Bell, and Germany, which qualified through a cooperation between BIG and M80 that featured Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz, Fritz “slaxz-” Dietrich and Elias “s1n” Stein. Romania secured a spot with Laurențiu “lauNX” Țârlea, and Lithuania qualified with Justinas “jL” Lekavicius on the roster. Chile advanced with David “dav1deuS” Tapia Maldonado and Matias “HUASOPEEK” Ibañez Hernandez. Turkey booked its place with help from former Aurora coach Sezgin “Fabre” Kalaycı. Australia qualified with a lineup that included current and former FlyQuest members.

Several veteran players and staff also featured in qualifiers. Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom and Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom helped Morocco reach the LAN. Joshua “steel” Nissan captained Canada into the event. Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev served as coach for Kazakhstan’s successful campaign.

The tournament format will split the 24 teams into four groups for a best-of-one round-robin group stage. The knockout phase will be a single-elimination bracket with best-of-three matches, culminating in a best-of-five grand final to decide the champion. Matches will be played on LAN in Riyadh during the event dates.