87 teams advance in Esports Nations Cup qualifiers

National open qualifiers for the Esports Nations Cup concluded with 87 national teams moving on to regional qualifiers. From those regional events, 24 teams will earn places at the main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, scheduled for Nov. 10–15 and carrying a $1.32 million prize pool.

The Esports World Cup Foundation described the open qualifying phase as the largest open qualifier in Counter-Strike history. Organizers had planned 96 national qualifiers worldwide, but nine events were cancelled after receiving no team registrations: five in Sub-Saharan Africa, two in North America and two in Oceania. The remaining 87 teams will compete in regional qualifiers on July 17–19 for the 24 slots in Riyadh.

Several national rosters include players known on the Counter-Strike circuit and add existing cores to new lineups. Ukraine advanced with a fnatic core of Rodion “fEAR” Smyk, Dmytro “jambo” Semera and Nikita “jackasmo” Skyba alongside Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev and Sergiy “DemQQ” Demchenko. Bulgaria qualified with the Ascend core of Teodor “SPELLAN” Nikolov, Dimitar “Skrimo” Yanulov and Hristiyan “REDSTAR” Pironkov.

Germany’s roster features M80 members Elias “s1n” Stein and Fritz “slaxz-” Dietrich combined with Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz and David “prosus” Hesse from BIG, with Jan “Swani” Müller listed as coach. The United Kingdom qualified a lineup that includes Sebastian “volt” Maloș (who holds Romanian and British citizenship), Owen “smooya” Butterfield, Oscar “AZUWU” Bell, Jack “Gizmy” von Spreckelsen, Cai “CYPHER” Watson and coach Max “MiGHTYMAX” Heath.

GenOne had four players qualify across Belgium and France, where Thomas “Djoko” Pavoni reunited with former 3DMAX teammate Pierre “Ex3rcice” Bulinge. In Sweden, Johnny Speeds lost in the final to a trio from roamsfiest. Lithuania’s roster includes Justinas “jL” Lekavicius and Vilius “tAk” Keserauskas. Romania qualified a team with Laurențiu “lauNX” Țârlea and two Nexus members. Kosovo advanced Aulon “Krabeni” Fazlija alongside several former Bad News Eagles players. Poland qualified Roland “ultimate” Tomkowiak with teammates from Betclic and KOLESIE.

In North America, Canada’s squad features Joshua “steel” Nissan and Justin “FaNg” Coakley, Guatemala will send Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa, and the United States qualified a trio of Voca members. South American qualifiers produced an Argentina team made up of three BESTIA players, a Brazil team of three ODDIK members, and Chile’s roster includes Matias “HUASOPEEK” Ibañez Hernandez with David “dav1deuS” Tapia Maldonado.

Oceania’s national stage registered only two teams. Australia’s lineup combines FlyQuest pair Joshua “INS” Potter and Declan “Vexite” Portelli with THUNDER dOWNUNDER’s Alistair “aliStair” Johnston and Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas.

The regional qualifiers on July 17–19 will decide the 24 national teams that advance to the Esports Nations Cup finals in Riyadh from Nov. 10–15. The finals will be organized by the Esports World Cup Foundation and feature Counter-Strike teams competing for the $1.32 million prize pool.