On September 25, the 43rd season of the ESL Challenger League starts. Teams, divided into three divisions by region (Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific) will compete for places in the 18th season of the ESL Conference.
In Europe, 24 teams will take part in the competition, including, for example, Spirit, Sprout and Bad News Eagles. The playoffs of the tournament will be held according to the double elimination scheme, and the team that makes it to the grand final through the upper bracket of the tournament will receive a one-map advantage. Many consider Spirit to be the favorite of the tournament, since it occupies the highest position in the world ranking among the participants, but it is also known that this team does not always manage to show stable results.
There are 16 teams participating in the North American division, which will be divided into two groups playing according to the round robin system. The top four from each group will advance to the playoffs, which will be played in the same way as in Europe. The highest rating among the participants is held by the Brazilian MIBR, which hopes to rehabilitate itself for its unsuccessful performance in the previous season.
Finally, the competition has already begun in the Asia-Pacific division. Here, the Chinese Lynn Vision and the Mongolian ICH are considered the favorites, having confidently won their opening matches.
