20 teams will take part in the second season of the EU Masters series, which begins on 10th September. The series brings together the best of the European Regional Leagues to find Europe’s best semi-professional League of Legends team.

The draw, in a format reminiscent of the recent World Cup, allows fans to support teams from their home regions in the highest level of League of Legends competition outside of the LCS.

The twenty teams that will enter the EU Masters will be qualified from a diverse group of competitions and countries that reflects Europe’s flourishing League of Legends scene.

Thirteen teams will join the EU Masters season as top seeds from the European Regional Leagues in their respective countries – including those from France’s Open Tour, Germany’s Premier Tour, Italy’s PG Nationals Predator series and the Nordic Championship. Top teams will also qualify from the newly-created Baltic, Greek and Benelux Regional Leagues.

More teams from across European Regional Leagues will also take part in a round-robin tournament to try and qualify for the final three spots on the EU Masters roster. These seven teams will be the second seeds from a variety of different leagues, including Spain’s Superliga Orange, the UK’s Forge of Champions and Germany’s Premier Tour.

Once the sixteen teams are decided, they’ll be divided into groups of four, with round-robin matches to determine which eight teams will qualify for the knockout stage. These eight squads will battle in a single elimination bracket – and the top four teams will travel to Katowice, Poland, for the live finals on 29th-30th September.

“We are pleased that the EU Masters’ second season will be held in Katowice. The EU Masters series will become the place where Europe’s best League of Legends teams battle for victory – and we can’t wait! We’ll be inviting fans to follow the matches online – and we’d love them to join us at the ESL Arena in Katowice at the end of September.” said Aleksander Szlachetko, managing director of ESL Poland.

If you want to attend the live finals and watch Europe’s best teams battle for greatness, then tickets will be available soon. Keep watching ESL’s social media channels and our website for more information. If you want to know how the inaugural EU Masters season went down, be sure to check out the exciting recap!

For more information on season two of the EU Masters and tickets for the live finals, visit eumasters.gg and follow ESL LoL on Twitter and Facebook.

The ESL Arena at Wacken will feature time slots for both Free Play, where anybody can try their hands at the aforementioned titles, as well as Open Qualifiers for PUBG, LoL and Street Fighter to find out which attendees are the best of the best. No pre-registration necessary. For those participating in the tournaments, we’ll have awesome prizes on the line, including ESL swag, tickets to future ESL events, gaming gear from Razer & more. You can find the exact time slots for Free Play and the Open Qualifiers on the official Wacken website.

In addition, ESL Arena Wacken sponsors Razer have set up a booth of their own, where they are showcasing their latest gaming peripherals, laptops and products. On top of that, you’ll have the chance to test them on the spot, by playing the various games offered right at the booth.

But thanks to ESL Arena sponsor NicNacs, it doesn’t just end there. As an additional incentive for the League of Legends Open Qualifiers, none other than Spandauer Inferno will be taking part in a showmatch on Friday, August 3rd. Awesome prizes and a once in a lifetime opportunity to beat Spandauer Inferno on the big stage await those, that take part in the competition.

To learn more about Wacken, the ESL Arena or how to find your way around the festival grounds, be sure to check out the official website. Good luck to everyone at Wacken!

Prize Pool Distribution

€10,000 were up for grabs for both CS:GO and League of legends respectively, while the FIFA 18 pros could look forward to €3,000 in prizes.

CS:GO & League of Legends prize pool

• € 5000
• € 3000
• € 1500
• € 500

FIFA 18 prize pool

• € 1500
• € 1000
• € 400
• € 100

CS:GO

The favorites reigned supreme in the CS:GO portion of the Vip Adria League. Croatia-based Valiance & Co managed to blow past post Zonic and Squared with 2:0 on their road to the title.

The MVP awarded ended up in Nemanja “Hunter” Kovac’s hands for his stellar performance during the tournament.

• 1st place – Valiance & Co (Croatia)
• 2nd place – Squared eSports (Serbia)
• 3rd place – Kliktech (Croatia)
• 4th place – Zonic eSports (Serbia)

League of Legends

SImilarly to CS:GO, the team that dominated the online phase kept their foot on the pedal during the finals to take home the grand prize. Kliktech, another Croatian organisation, got the better of X25 and Bontech to lift the League of Legends trophy. On top of the trophy, Toni “Sacre” Sabalic managed to earned himself MVP honors for his impressive play throughout.

• 1st place – Kliktech (Croatia)
• 2nd place – Bontech (Croatia)
• 3rd place – X25 eSports (Serbia)
• 4th place – RUR Esports (Serbia)

Fifa 18

Youth prevailed in FIFA 18, with the 17 year old Edinho putting on a show. The Kliktech player dropped three straight 2-0 sweeps, beating every competitor of his once, to come out ahead in the double-elimination bracket.

• 1st place – Kliktech Edinho (Croatia)
• 2nd place – Dino (Croatia)
• 3rd place – Hasinho (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
• 4th place – Luksa (Croatia)

Congratulations to the winning teams! They can now look forward to the 7th season of the Southeast Europe Championship to which they receive a direct group stage invite. Want to stay in touch with the Vip Adria League for future announcements? Then be sure to follow the tournament on both Twitter and Facebook.

New Qualifiers

RED BULLS (RB)

Formed around veteran support KaSing, Red Bulls look to take this season by storm. They made their way into the CSQ from the open ladder but there was plenty of hype surrounding them going into the tournament. They have lived up to the hype so far and join us for the Summer Season of the Challenger Series.

WIND AND RAIN (WAR)

The Org came through the Ragnarok competition and took some big scalps on the road to the Challenger Series Qualifiers. The Org lost their whole roster to Origen before the tournament but have since picked up some big names like Woolite as they look on for their LCS spot in 2018.

Old Guard

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN (PSG)

This is the second time that PSG join us in the Challenger Series after losing out to Fnatic Academy in Spring. The team made some roster changes bringing in some LCS experience as they look on to make the push for the 2018 LCS. Can the footballing giants replicate their domestic success on the European League of Legends stage?

FC SCHALKE 04 (S04)

FC Schalke also rejoin us for a second season after an undefeated regular season last time out. A loss to Misfits Academy denied them a spot in the LCS for this year but they are back with vengeance and stronger ever with Memento joining the roster.

Fallen Giants

ORIGEN (OG)

Origen’s story in the Spring Split was one of disappointment after failing to pick up a single series victory. They’re looking to regain their former World’s glory and have picked up all 5 members of WaR’s qualifying lineup. The team have been together through two tournaments already but can they make the step up on their biggest stage yet!

GIANTS GAMING (GIA)

Falling down from the LCS sees Giants in their first season of EU CS. Their time in the LCS last season wasn’t the strongest and they fell to Fnatic’s Academy team twice during the promotion tournament. They’ve revamped their roster with plenty of experience as they look to bounce back.

The EU CS is live every Sunday from 3pm BST with three Bo2s:

Schedule

Week 1: June 18

• 15:00 RB vs S04
• 17:00 PSG vs OG
• 19:00 GIA vs WAR

Week 2: June 25

• 15:00 GIA vs OG
• 17:00 PSG vs RB
• 19:00 S04 vs WAR

Week 3: July 2

• 15:00 OG vs S04
• 17:00 WAR vs RB
• 19:00 PSG vs GIA

Week 4: July 9

• 15:00 RB vs GIA
• 17:00 WAR vs OG
• 19:00 S04 vs PSG

Week 5: July 16

• 15:00 WAR vs PSG
• 17:00 S04 vs GIA
• 19:00 OG vs RB

How do we watch?

Join us over on Twitch every Sunday from 3pm BST for all of the Challenger series action. This week we’ll be joined hot off the LCS by Aaron “Medic” Chamberlain and his trusty co-casters from the CSQ Ceirnan “Excoundrel” Lowe and Jack “Jaws” Wright.

A very hands-on team

Team SoloMid greet the crowd at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice.

Celebratory embrace

Hugging it out at ESL Meisterschaft.

All smiles

A high-spirited breather between games.

Yes!

Mid-cheer at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2015.

Trash talk

Mark Cuban says it how it is before the Intel Extreme Masters San Jose celebrity showmatch.

Fist pump

Team Cuban emerge victorious at Intel Extreme Masters San Jose.

GG!

Team SoloMid succeed at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice.

Eyes (and hands) on the prize

Origen prepare to lift the trophy at Intel Extreme Masters San Jose.

Victory!

A winning moment at ESL Meisterschaft.

Love on top

Dyrus enjoying the limelight at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice.

Happy hug

Bjergsen gives (or gets?) a bearhug.

We are the champions

Team SoloMid hoist the trophy at the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in Katowice.

For more great League of Legends moments, make sure you check out the official ESL Flickr!