Mentioned in this article Games: Dota 2

ESL Asia expands its National Championships to Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Each region will feature $12K USD in prize money, with Malaysia and Singapore being a combined region.

The online tournament will commence in March, leading through to a LAN final in June.

ESL Asia has announced an expansion of its National Championship program by launching the tournament in Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia and Singapore as a combined region. ESL’s National Championship format has already operates in over 20 countries, and most recently ran its first Southeast Asian edition in Indonesia.

Initially featuring Dota 2 , the National Championships will include a prize pool of $12K USD for each of the three new regions and will include eight teams. The teams will be selected via a series of four online qualifiers starting March 13, with the top two teams from each qualifier progressing.

Related Article: ESL Restructures Asia-Pacific Japan Leadership, Commits to Budding Esports Market



“The National Championships represent our commitment to growing local esports heroes in Southeast Asia,” said Nick Vanzetti, senior vice president of ESL Asia-Pacific Japan. “Southeast Asia represents an expansive market filled with growth potential and some of the best teams in the region. We truly believe our approach can help facilitate more SEA players into the international esports scene, creating a true Zero to Hero story for the region.”

The format of these National Championships offers an extra layer to the Southeast Asian esports ecosystem where teams can struggle to find a competitive environment between amateur esports tournaments that ban professionals and international events that only the best qualify for.

This announcement now sees ESL Asia operating local tournaments in five Southeast Asian countries, which suggest that it is on track with its mission to increase its presence in the region after a restructuring in Aug. 2018. At the time, Vanzetti stated that the goal of the restructure was “positioning ESL to take full advantage of the opportunities that the market offers.”