European qualifiers for IESF World Championship about to kick off

European Qualifiers for IESF World Championship about to kick off

The International Esports Federation (IESF), which is based in the South Korean city of Busan, is on a quest to search for the strongest nation in Dota 2.

Teams from all over the world will compete in the third IESF World Championship for the international crown that will be awarded at the event’s grand finals. The European Qualifiers are right ahead, taking place beginning November 21.

All rosters consist of five players from the same nation. Each will fight its way through national qualifiers first, then through regional qualifiers. The strongest teams from each region will advance to the offline playoffs in Eilat, Israel.

Dota talents from all around the world

A total of 11 different regions will send in their best representatives. These are all the divisions in the IESF World Championship:

• Europe
• Central Asia
• South Asia
• SEA
• East Asia
• Middle East
• South America
• North & Central America
• South Africa
• CIS

Each of these regions has several slots for the main IESF World Championship, where the final battle for the strongest country in the world of Dota 2 takes place. Each region first hosts national qualifiers for several countries, to determine the best teams from each country.

After all the national squads are assembled, the next stage is initiated: the regional qualifier. In this challenge, each of the countries that compose each region fight against each other for a slot in the main event of the World Championship.

Which nations will represent Europe?

The European Qualifiers kick off on Saturday, with 16 nations entering the competition to claim one of the three golden tickets to Eilat. All teams were divided into four groups with four line-ups each, and to put their strength to the test, they will face each other in a round-robin group stage. This means that each contestant will play a series against all other teams in turn. 

All participating countries in the European qualifiers

Group A

Israel

Montenegro

Serbia

Austria

Group B

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Netherlands

Finland

Slovakia

Group C

Czech Republic

Belgium

Luxembourg

Norway

Group D

Macedonia

Portugal

Turkey

Sweden

The playoffs will be aired on the official Twitch channel of the IESF. Casters Gareth Bateson and Dominik “Lacoste” Stipić will commentate all matches.

Who to watch at IESF World Championship

This year’s IESF World Championship is the third instalment of the global tournament. Newbee won the first event in 2014, representing China. In 2019, a Swedish stack surrounding The International winners Gustav "s4" Magnusson and Jerry "EGM" Lundkvist was able to claim the trophy for their home country.

While the reigning champions will not return to the competition this year, it will be interesting to see if Sweden can defend the title. A stack that plays under the name Team GO claimed the slot through the qualifiers to follow in the footsteps of s4, EGM, and their victorious teammates.

Another team to watch out for is the Czech squad surrounding Pavel "Mambos" Beneš. As all members of Hippomaniacs consist of Czech players, the line-up was able to plough its way through the national qualifiers and make it to the European stage.

For more information on the European Qualifiers or the event itself, check out the official homepage of the IESF.