ESL has made changes to the format of ESEA’s MDL Global Challenge event by removing direct Pro League qualification for the Europe and North America MDL winners, now offering teams from Asia and Australia the chance to qualify.
Announced late last week, Season 33 of the ESEA MDL will feature a significantly different MDL Global Challenge event format. The new format gives teams from Asia and Australia a chance to qualify for the ESL Pro League.
With the changes, European and North American MDL winners will no longer qualify directly to the ESL Pro League. Instead, the top two teams from the overall Global Challenge will qualify directly to the ESL Pro League. The modified format also means the Global Challenge’s will feature more best-of-three group stage matches on LAN.
The changes to the event’s format do away with those direct promotions and instead combines the process with the Global Challenge tournament itself, offering the top two teams from the event a spot in ESL’s league. Additionally, North America has seen its overall number of slots at the event reduced from four to three, matching the number of European teams that can qualify.
Season 33’s Global Challenge will feature teams from the following regions:
- The top 3 MDL Europe teams
- The top 3 MDL North America teams
- The top 1 MDL Australia team
- The top 1 Asia-Pacific Open team
Similarly to previous League seasons, the top team(s) from these regions will qualify for a Global LAN event with their travel and accommodation covered for five players and a coach. The full schedule and groups will be announced later in the season, closer to the event itself.
Future seasons may feature additional regions depending on their volume of activity. Asia was, however, selected as a fourth region due to a surge of recent activity in ESEA’s Rank Leaderboards.
Registration ESEA Season 33 closes on January 6th at midnight PT. The ESEA APAC Open is open to all teams. Click here to register for ESEA Season 33 today!
Players and teams with questions can always join our official CSGO2ASIA Discord to connect with other teams, players and ESEA representatives to learn more.
