ESL has announced the return of ESL One Birmingham in the Dota 2 esports scene. While no longer a part of the Dota Pro Circuit, this event is sure to see multiple top-tier teas in attendance. So far, ESL has already hosted the ESL One Hamburg in October. Team Secret won the event after a nail-biting close Grand final win over Vici Gaming.

ESL One Birmingham will return to the UK in May 2019. There will be a total of 12 top Dota 2 teams in participation at the event. The total prize pool for the tournament is $300,000. The formal announcement also mentions the meme where their fans would demand ESL’s return to the UK.

Over the last couple of months, one request has oppressed the meta of our social media game. Whenever we posted about one of our other events, like ESL One Katowice in February, or even about other games, there would always be a couple of replies along the lines of: “pls cnfrm doto back 2 uk 2019”.

🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 Dota 2 is coming home: #ESLOne Birmingham 2019 confirmed! Qualifiers, format and ticketing info 👉https://t.co/qC2E8SPoED pic.twitter.com/gEmMRAhFJ7 — ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) November 8, 2018

ESL forges partnerships with the local governments

We recently reported how ESL is working with the Bucharest government to ensure that esports is a regular feature in the city. With positive comments from government authorities for ESL One Birmingham, this event also seems to be heading the same way. ESL is working towards ensuring a successful and meaningful partnership between Esports event organisers and city governments.

I’m delighted Birmingham will once again play host to an ESL tournament. It is a testament to the brilliant fans who made this such a success last year, and we look forward to welcoming fans from across the world. We witnessed unimaginable levels of support from the UK community which genuinely surprised us all earlier this year”, said James Dean, Managing Director at ESL UK. “We’re working on implementing improvements and some additional surprise features based on superb feedback from the community this year. Margot James, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries.

Tournament format and structure

The tournament will see Open qualifiers take place in March and April 2019. There will be four different regions for the open qualifiers: Europe, South East Asia, North America and China. Each region represents the best regions when it comes to Dota 2.

The tournament will feature a similar format to ESL One Hamburg. The teams will be divided into two groups of six teams each. The groups will feature round-robin matches which will pit all the teams against each other. Each match in the Group stage will be a Best of Two matchups.

In addition to this, the event will also feature a cosplayer competition. We hope to see some quality cosplay from the UK. The tickets for the event go on sale from November 15th. Prices will range from £19 for a one-day ticket and £44 for a three-day ticket to £134 for a premium ticket.