ESL and NODWIN Gaming announced their partnership to create the ESL India Premiership which will be the biggest tournament series in the region.

ESL made another addition to their national contests with ESL India Premiership as the Indians join ESL's national championships such as ESL Meisterschaft and ESL UK Premiership. The competition will start online on May 16th and will be streamed on ESL India Premiership's twitch channel.

There will be three LAN tournaments which are named the Challenger and the Masters. The action will kick off with three Starter Cups to determine six of the Challanger teams. The other two spots of the Challenger will be given via an Open Qualifier and an invite and this format will be used for both the Challenger cups.



India gets its own tournament series

The top four teams from two Challengers, which will take place in July and November, will meet in the Masters tournament in December to end the year. You can find more information at ESL's format page.

The representatives of both ESL and NODWIN Gaming explained the reason behind creating the tournament series as they highlighted the importance of boosting the value of eSports in the region.

"ESL's mission is to increase the popularity of esports across the globe. We are excited to help building up the esports community in India with Nodwin. The country's diverse communities, along with the fact that India embraces technology like no other place, makes it a perfect candidate" said Ralf Reichert, Managing Director of ESL in the official press release. "We are very excited to get started with the ESL India Premiership, and I personally can't wait to experience it live, as I'm sure the crowd will be fantastic. In the meantime, we will ensure that we can deliver a world-class experience – both online and offline – to the local and international fans, and hope this tournament series helps foster growth in the region." "Esports athletes are treated as celebrities worldwide and they earn millions of dollars every year by opting to embrace electronic sports as a career. This is unfortunately not yet the case in India. – But we hope to change this. The ESL India Premiership is the next big esports revolution in our country." the statement from Akshat Rathee, Director and CEO of NODWIN Gaming, read. "We feel proud to state that our continuous efforts for the last three years have led to the establishment of such a fruitful brand for our community and for our country, and it's only just getting started. Join us and play your way up to the top of the ESL India Premiership. Meet the stars and young talents. Action and excitement are guaranteed, it's the biggest showdown in India to date."

ESL India Premiership's CS:GO division will hand out ~$28,165 in cash prizes in 2016. If you are from the region and have a team, you can sign up for the first Starter Cup over at ESL's registration page.