Start the path to your first Valve Regional Standings Points, fit around your schedule with an…

Take your first step into competitive team play to earn your first Valve Regional Standings Points with ESEA League kicking off on January 8th! Compete in weekly official matches, against teams of your skill, and based around your schedule!

Get a taste of the unforgettable League atmosphere with multiple experience improvements, including:

A path to your first Valve Regional Standing Points by restructuring ESL Challenger League

Fairer officials with Open10, Open9, and Open1–8 in Europe and Open9–10 and Open1–8 in North America

Better placing Open teams using the average Elo rather than levels

Making sure you have time for League games with improvements including multiple scheduling offers when your opponents reply, offer history, and mobile/email notifications

Prepare for the season and see how far you can go in Fast-Track qualifiers

Improve your skills by exploring detailed statistics diving with our new Track feature

Building more trust with verification for all Advanced regular season matches

A clearer way to register with the League page updated to help you understand how to compete

Supporting grassroots with the Middle East Open on Dubai servers providing a consistent competitive schedule, promoting to EU Main

A path to your first Valve Regional Standing Points in ESEA League

Instead of endlessly grinding FACEIT, competitive players want high-pressure officials to earn their place at the top rather than hope they get noticed by an established organisation. Fans are inspired watching the next jL, ZyWOo, or donk, burst onto the scene after rising through the lower divisions.

This is a core reason for Counter-Strike’s success. The open format where you can start your competitive journey, and work your way to the top is why over 2,700 amateur teams competed last League season. Gatekeeping the next generation of professional players by recycling the same talent is to the detriment of the scene.

Valve announced new requirements for tournament organisers to continue running huge events and to receive VRS Points. Since then, many organisers have changed their competitions to feature fewer open qualifiers and opportunities for players to break into the scene, unless you already had points from past tournaments.

To meet Valve’s requirements, and to continue your path to ESL Pro League, we are offering you a chance to earn your first VRS Points by restructuring the ESL Challenger League.

ECL Seasons after 49 (21 January 2025 — 11 May) will reset so no teams directly carry over from the previous season. Season 49 will carry on with the previously announced moveups.

For ECL Season 50 ( 5 August — 16 November 2025 ) the following slots will be awarded to teams with the most VRS points from the rankings

The following slots will also be awarded from the following ESEA League divisions:

Any teams from the previous season without an ECL slot earned through VRS can requalify from Advanced/Open in the following season

While meeting Valve’s requirements, this continually brings in aspiring teams to earn their first VRS Points and qualify for ESL Pro League to establish themselves as a professional player. Anyone can take their first step into the competitive scene with ESEA League and rise through the divisions to the top!

Last season, we launched the first Open10 division in Europe and North America. We automatically moved teams with 5+ level 10 players out of Open so stronger teams could battle for higher promotion and prize money while newer teams got their first taste of exciting officials. For the 867 non-level 10 teams in Open, this meant they could enjoy a better, more balanced experience against teams of their level with a lower chance of being totally stomped.

In January, we’re expanding the concept with a new Open9 division in Europe, so there will be Open10, Open9, and Open 1–8. If the average of your best 5 players is above level 10, you’re in Open10 automatically. If it’s between 9–10 then you’re in Open9. If it’s below, you can try out competing with lower skilled players. In North America, we’re making the thresholds clearer ahead of time this season, so there will be Open9–10 for teams above level 9 and Open 1–8 for teams below.

To make matches more balanced, instead of 5+ players above the level, we will use the average Elo of the 5 highest players on your team to determine your placement.

You don’t need to do anything to get fairer official matches! Just register for Open and teams will be automatically moved once registration closes. As before, if you want to manually move division, eg play in Open10 even if you don’t meet the requirements, you can request this in a ticket .

Finding the time to compete can be a worry for teams taking their first step as they balance work, school, and practicing for their matches. If you took the effort to offer times, it could be frustrating if your opponents didn’t get back to you and forced the default date. This season we’re making finding a mutual time easier than ever by bringing back some of the requested features from ESEA.net and adding even more!

You can now offer multiple times simultaneously so your opponent can choose from multiple times, eg if you can play multiple times on the same day or the same time each night. You now avoid wasting time going back and forth with your opponents with times they won’t accept as we will highlight that when you’re offering a time that was previously rejected. You can communicate better with your opponents rather than writing in chat and hoping they notice the message as we’ve brought back the “reasons” for rejecting an offer that you can more easily communicate. Finally, if your circumstances change, you can reject your own offer so you don’t need to worry if your opponents will accept the time.

To encourage teams to reply, if your opponents do not reject your offer, your first time in a proposal will automatically be accepted after 36 hours. If the offer is too close to the scheduled time, eg 72, then it will not be accepted and we will highlight this before you send the offer. This will also help remove inactive teams faster because they will be forfeit sooner rather than having matches where neither team attends because the inactive team did not respond and the active team couldn’t attend the default.

It is now easier to stay on top of your League scheduling when away from your PC with notifications when offers are sent, accepted, or rejected! These notifications are sent using email, the bell at the top of FACEIT, and now the FACEIT mobile app.

See how far you can go with fast-track qualifiers

Prepare for the upcoming season and see if you can skip divisions by competing in free qualifiers in the final weeks of registration.

Improve with detailed statistics from League matches

One of the most missed areas from ESEA.net was more detailed statistics that weren’t available on FACEIT, yet. While we did work with CSstats.gg to analyse all of your League matches in the last few seasons, players understandably didn’t want to move off of FACEIT just for their statistics.

See statistics and map data from your recent matches as part of FACEIT 2.0, with our new Track feature. You can now filter specifically for League matches to get an overview of clutch percentage, utility usage, entry accuracy, and more!

Last season, we required verification to be completed in the Advanced playoffs, as players are on the cusp of becoming professional players. After the positive feedback, we’re now extending this to all Advanced regular season matches so players must complete face or ID verification here as they continue their path to ESL Pro League and VRS Points.

Understand how to complete with a new season page

Since the move to FACEIT, information about the League was scattered between multiple pages and newer players found it challenging to understand what the League was about. We have shaken up the season’s page here so it’s easier to stay on top of recent updates, quickly browse the top standings, and understand where you are in the registration cycle.

Supporting grassroots CS in the Middle East

Historically, starting your competitive journey in the Middle East has been a challenge as players were often lumped into larger regions due to the relative size of the region. This made taking your first step even more intimidating as not only would you face tough opponents with more experience but often on servers with 100+ ping.

In Season 52, teams can take a first step with a consistent competitive calendar and a path to the top in our Middle East Open division on Dubai servers. Teams can compete in weekly official matches to gain experience amongst themselves before the best advance on their path to the top. The best teams at the end of the season will be promoted to EU Main where they can compete against stronger teams on a path to ESL Pro League along with the lion’s share of $1,500. Teams in North Africa and the Levant can continue playing in our European Open divisions where they will have a better opportunity to be promoted with more slots and a lower ping than on Dubai.

Good luck in Season 52 as you take your first step into competitive team by playing against your skill level. See how far you can go on your path to ESL Pro League and earn your first VRS Points!