Esports match organiser ESL has up to date its format for the Asia finals of ESL Challenger League Season 51.
The brand new format backtracks on a earlier resolution by the match organiser to take away the regional Counter-Strike 2 occasion’s hyperlink to the ESL Professional League.
For the 4 ESL Challenger League Season 51 Oceania Cup occasions, the winners of the 4 cups will earn a spot within the Asia-Oceania Regional Finals, combining Oceania and Asia collectively. As a substitute of a four-team match happening, eight groups will compete in a single-elimination bracket for an opportunity to earn a spot at ESL Professional League.
Along with reintroducing a pathway to the Professional League, ESL has additionally added best-of-three quarter-final matches, turning the Regional Finals right into a four-day match. The Grand Remaining shall be contested over a best-of-five collection, following related formulation to different ESL-hosted occasions.
The adjustments to ESL Challenger League in Oceania and Asia come after the occasion organiser unveiled a brand new format on November twenty seventh. The adjustments initially included an enlargement from eight groups to 10, however eliminated the pathway to qualify for ESL Professional League Season 24.
ESL Challenger League has often offered groups from Oceania with a pathway to compete in one in every of Counter-Strike’s longest-standing tournaments. In Season 22, Rooster competed on the occasion, failing to win any of its three Stage 1 matches.
ESL Challenger League Season 51 Oceania Particulars
Going down from February seventeenth to twenty fourth, 2026, ten groups will compete within the first cup of Season 51. Eight of the ten groups will obtain direct invites by way of January’s Valve Regional Standings (VRS), whereas the perimeters of Muttley Crew and Exsto Gaming have already secured their locations by way of ESEA Open Season 54.
The change to the format is a optimistic for groups competing in Oceania who’re in search of alternatives to compete in high-profile occasions that includes the perfect groups on this planet.
