Teams set for national Esports Nations Cup qualifiers

87 national rosters will fight across regions for 24 spots at the $1,320,000 event.

The national open qualifiers for Esports Nations Cup have concluded with 87 teams advancing to the regional qualifier stage, from which 24 will advance to the $1,320,000 main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, scheduled to run from November 10-15.

The Esports World Cup Foundation ran what it dubbed as "the largest open qualifier in Counter-Strike history," with 96 open qualifiers originally slated to run worldwide. In the end, nine national qualifiers — five in Sub-Saharan Africa, two in North America, and two in Oceania — were cancelled as a result of no teams signing up, resulting in a final list of 87 national teams.

Several national rosters featured familiar names playing in mixed teams, with a few utilizing the cores of already existing lineups. Among those were the fnatic core of Rodion "⁠fEAR⁠" Smyk , Dmytro "⁠jambo⁠" Semera , and Nikita "⁠jackasmo⁠" Skyba , who united with Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev and Sergiy "⁠DemQQ⁠" Demchenko to qualify from Ukraine.

The Ascend core of Teodor "⁠SPELLAN⁠" Nikolov , Dimitar "⁠Skrimo⁠" Yanulov , and Hristiyan "⁠REDSTAR⁠" Pironkov topped the Bulgaria qualifier, while Germany saw M80 's Elias "⁠s1n⁠" Stein and Fritz "⁠slaxz-⁠" Dietrich qualify alongside Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz and David "⁠prosus⁠" Hesse from BIG in a lineup that also featured former G2 skipper Jan "⁠Swani⁠" Müller as coach.

Sebastian "⁠volt⁠" Maloș , who holds both Romanian and British citizenship, qualified from the latter region alongside Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield , Oscar "⁠AZUWU⁠" Bell , Jack "⁠Gizmy⁠" von Spreckelsen , Cai "⁠CYPHER⁠" Watson , and coach Max "⁠MiGHTYMAX⁠" Heath .

GenOne had four players qualify, two through the Belgian qualifier and two through France, with the latter seeing Thomas "⁠Djoko⁠" Pavoni reunite with his former 3DMAX teammate Pierre "⁠Ex3rcice⁠" Bulinge . Johnny Speeds , meanwhile, faltered in the Sweden qualifier final to a trio of roamsfiest .

Other notable names include Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius and Vilius "⁠tAk⁠" Keserauskas playing for Lithuania, Laurențiu "⁠lauNX⁠" Țârlea joining a pair of Nexus members for Romania, and Aulon "⁠Krabeni⁠" Fazlija linking up with several former Bad News Eagles members for Kosovo. Roland "⁠ultimate⁠" Tomkowiak , who was sidelined by Liquid , also qualified for Poland alongside a pair of Betclic and KOLESIE players.

North America's qualifier includes Joshua "⁠steel⁠" Nissan and Justin "⁠FaNg⁠" Coakley playing for Canada, Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa for Guatemala, and a trio of Voca members representing the United States. Three BESTIA players earned the Argentina spot in South America, while a trio of ODDIK players qualified from Brazil and XSE Pro League Guangzhou MVP Matias "⁠HUASOPEEK⁠" Ibañez Hernandez linked up with David "⁠dav1deuS⁠" Tapia Maldonado in Chile.

The Oceania qualifier features just two teams, with FlyQuest duo Joshua "⁠INS⁠" Potter and Declan "⁠Vexite⁠" Portelli combining with THUNDER dOWNUNDER 's Alistair "⁠aliStair⁠" Johnston and Jay "⁠Liazz⁠" Tregillgas for Australia.

The 87 teams will now compete in qualifiers across the following regions from July 17-19: