This initiative, slated to begin on September 23, is focused on fostering esports interest and identifying potential stars from Greater Manchester.

Crafted by the IN4 Group��s Gametech division, the MEA is tailored for young individuals aged between eight and 16. It aims to present them with potential career avenues within the video gaming and esports industries.

Also read: Esports in the UK

The venture with CITC is set to benefit 20 youths, predominantly from underprivileged backgrounds or those in caregiving roles. Their training will be under the watchful eyes of certified coaches from the Esports Coaching Academy, all taking place at the state-of-the-art Gametech campus in MediaCity.

Manchester City isn’t new to the esports ecosystem, boasting a team of professionals representing the club in games like Fortnite and EA Sports FC 24.

Abdiqani Ahmed, from Manchester Esports Academy, voiced the program��s underlying intent.

��We want to encourage participants from low-income backgrounds…to know they can have exciting and wide-ranging careers…or becoming a professional esports competitor,” he said.

Upon its public launch post-pilot, parents can enrol their children via a monthly subscription. Notably, the academy will waive off fees for underprivileged children in Greater Manchester, including those backed by Children in Need.

IN4 Group CEO, Mo Isap, championed the vast opportunities within the booming esports domain, expressing joy over their collaboration with CITC. Meanwhile, Sam Dainty from CITC conveyed enthusiasm about stepping into esports and its potential impact on young lives.

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Riot Games made the announcement via a press release on its official League of Legends portal. The statement also revealed that they would be a format change for the upcoming event.

“The Mid-Season Invitational is coming to London in 2023!” Riot Games announced.

“Thirteen teams from all around the world will battle it out for the title of MSI Champion. We’re also shaking things up with a new format for the tournament, so get ready for some intense competition.”

This marks a significant milestone for the esports in the UK, as it’s the first time in over a decade that a major international tournament of this caliber will be taking place on their home soil.

The esports tournament will also be the sixth major event to be held in Europe, following the 2021 World Championship in Reykjav��k, Iceland.

As soon as the news broke, social media was awash with excitement and anticipation from fans who can’t wait to see some of the world’s best League of Legends players and teams in action in the UK. For many, this is a long-awaited opportunity to experience live esports in their home country and to support their favorite players and teams in-person.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan expressed his excitement about playing host to the international tournament. In a video clip, he stated that the development sits perfectly with the city’s goal of hosting the biggest and best tournaments, thereby becoming a center for esports.

��We��re delighted to host the League of Legends MSI here in London for the first time ever,�� Khan said.

��Esports is a growing sector and presents a hugely exciting opportunity for London and its gaming community. We want to bring the biggest and best tournaments to London, and MSI is a brilliant way to showcase our ambition to become a centre for esports.

��I��m thrilled to support Riot Games in this dynamic industry, both at grassroots and professional levels. London warmly welcomes all the tournament players and fans to our city and wish you all the best.��

The UK has a rich esports history, and it’s home to many dedicated League of Legends fans, as well as a number of talented players and casters. Among them are former Team Vitality top-laner Alphari, and casters such as Marc Robert ��Caedrel�� Lamont, Aaron ��Medic�� Chamberlain and Andrew ��Vedius�� Day.

The region also had one of the top European Regional Leagues with the UKLC, before merging with the Nordic Championship League in 2020.

The location of the 2023 MSI has yet to be officially announced, but it’s expected to bring major changes to the tournament when it takes place later this year. The number of teams participating is set to increase from 11 to 13 and there will be two double-elimination stages, with a play-in stage and a bracket stage. These changes are sure to make the tournament even more exciting and competitive than ever before.

With London being one of the world’s most iconic cities, fans have pegged it as capable of providing a great setting for the tournament. Some are of the opinion that the city offers a wealth of iconic venues that could provide an incredible backdrop to the event and have gone on to suggest that the tournament could be held in a historic London location such as The O2 Arena or at newer venues like the SSE Arena, and Wembley.

In the previous year, China’s Royal Never Give Up successfully retained its title as the MSI champions by defeating Korea’s T1, who was coming off of an impressive 2022 Spring Split run without a loss. However, this upcoming year the franchise will be missing its star mid-laner Xiaohu, who left to join Weibo Gaming after the season ended. Despite this, the team still has multiple members from the championship-winning team remaining for 2023, giving it a good chance of retaining its title once again.

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The Split 1 Playoffs have already been scheduled to take place from February 2-5, 2023, at the Copper Box Arena, while the other two LAN events have also been confirmed for the London venue.

“In London we will crown our Champions,” EA tweeted. “Catch the best #ALGS teams in the world compete in the Split 1 Playoffs for a $1M USD prize pool at the Copper Box Arena from Feb 2-5, 2023.”

The Copper Box Arena is known to have hosted a handful of esports tournaments, as well as other sports events in general. The venues have been used for the 2012 Olympic, and DreamHack events for esports titles like Rocket League,? Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Super Smash Bros. Melee.

The 2023 AGLS is the third EA-sponsored tournament circuit. It will have a total of the top? 40 Apex Legends teams from all regions competing for the prize pool of $1 million. The teams include:

Group A
100 Thieves (NA)
VZN (EMEA)
GameWard (EMEA)
Aurora (EMEA)
XSET (NA)
Moist Esports (APAC S)
ENTER FORCE.36 (APAC N)
G?DFIRE (SA)
LeaveNoWitness (SA)
PULVEREX (APAC N)

Group B
Alliance (EMEA)
Flora (APAC N)
HEC (NA)
Spacestation Gaming (NA)
FC Destroy (APAC N)
TSM (NA)
NORTHEPTION (APAC N)
NorCal Esports (SA)
DEWA United Esports (APAC S)
Fire Beavers (EMEA)

Group C
Fnatic (APAC N)
Acend (EMEA)
Pioneers (EMEA)
ganbare otousan (APAC N)
GHS Professional (APAC N)
The Guard (NA)
K1CK (SA)
Boogie Boarders (APAC S)
EXO Clan (APAC S)
NRG (NA)

Group D
Luminosity Gaming (NA)
iG International (EMEA)
fun123 (APAC N)
Element 6 (EMEA)
DarkZero (NA)
Chicken Sandwich (APAC S)
Team Singularity (SA)
Vexed Gaming (EMEA)
Crazy Raccoon (APAC N)
Esports Arena (NA)

The AGLS organizers already placed the first-place prize money at $300,000. They also revealed the tournament format, noting that all 40 teams will be divided into four groups with 10 teams each. And each group will play in a six-game series against each other at the group stage of the playoffs. Only 20 teams will make it to the finals.

The last year’s AGLS Split Two Playoffs were held in Stockholm, Sweden. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the event did not have a live audience.

Ticket sales for the event have already commenced. Also, further reports on the tournament schedule will most likely be revealed in the early weeks of 2023.

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Rix.GG took to their Twitter page to make the announcement, thanking the players, staff, creators, and fans for their contributions to the organization’s growth in the past years.

“As of today Rix will be ceasing operations,” the franchise’s tweet read.

“To every player, staff member and creator that��s been with us, thank you for making this organisation what it was.

“To everyone that supported us through thick and thin, thank you.

“Thank you for everything. #GatherTheStorm.”

Rix.GG launched in July 2020 as a part of X1 Esports’ expansion into the European market. The team quickly gained a following and success in a variety of competitions, including the 2022 Icons Global Championship (Wild Rift) and the RLCS Season X Winter EU Major (Rocket League).

However, despite their initial success, X1 Esports have decided to close the operations of Rix.GG due to financial constraints and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the esports industry.

Rix’s Chief Gaming Officer, Zack “cZer” Chandler, spoke about the unfortunate development.

��Rix was built on the fundamentals of trying to do things right in this industry, and making sure people were valued and cared after,” cZer said.

“I personally want to thank every single player that��s walked through these doors for the time they spent with us.

��Having the ability to work with talent on this scale made me truly grateful for the position I��m in. I want to thank every content creator that flew our banner and showed their love for the org. And finally thanking every staff member that gave their blood sweat and tears for this org.

��We are a family of people that cared about inclusion, fairness and respect. And that will never change.��

The closure of Rix.GG marks a significant loss for the UK esports scene. They were one of the few British esports teams to have achieved success at international level.

X1 Esports have assured fans that they will continue to invest in the esports industry and remain committed to their Rocket League news website, Shift Media, and talent management company, Tyrus LLC, stating that they will “no longer be in the business of competitive playing of video games by teams for cash prizes”.

X1 Esports formerly fielded rosters Rocket League, Fortnite, Valorant, and the League of Legends mobile game Wild Rift. Their decision to shut down is a result of the current global economic uncertainty and the rising cost of living, which has negatively impacted the organization’s revenues.

This announcement follows closely on the heels of German esports organization Cowana Gaming’s decision to shut down operations. According to multiple reports, Rix and Cowana Gaming may be the first of several teams to face closure in the coming months.

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The report comes after the Danish player��s return to the professional scene four months ago, when he joined Endpoint.

Kjaerbye announced his retirement from CS:GO in June 2021, citing a lack of desire and motivation to continue playing the game at a professional level. He came back in June 2022 to play for Endpoint, and he claimed in a statement made earlier this year that he was considerably better both mentally and physically.

Endpoint’s official statement about the player’s departure says that the former Astralis rifler has some problems in his personal life that he needs to take care of right away.

“It was great to have Marcus at Endpoint and we fully appreciate the professional experience and attitude he brought to the team,” the team said.

Kjaerbye also spoke on his departure, and expressed his gratitude to the team for giving him a platform and supporting him in his career path.

“I am very grateful that Endpoint gave me the chance to come back to the thing I love most: play pro CS,” Kjaerbye said.

“The way Endpoint, my teammates, and my coach Rejin welcomed me and supported me in my comeback has meant the world to me. I am sad it has to end now, but sometimes life takes unexpected turns and you simply have to follow that.”

Endpoint also noted that Kjaerbye was a key figure in their victory over Natus Vincere during the group stage of ESL Pro League Season 16 in September and also in the Polska Liga Esportowa Superpuchar 2022.

“Despite the fact that we were together for a short time, we achieved a lot together, in particular, qualification for ESL Pro League Season 16 and an unforgettable victory over Natus Vincere,” Endpoint��s official statement read.

After the UK esports team’s attempt to qualify for the IEM Road to Rio 2022 European RMR was unsuccessful, Kjaerbye was suddenly no longer visible on the radar. At this point in time, Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko assumed his position within the team, which most likely functioned as a trial run for a future shift.

As a result of Kjaerbye’s departure, the remaining members of the Endpoint roster are Kia “Surreal” Man, Max “MiGHTYMAX” Heath, Guy “Nertz” Iluz, and Polish player Milosz “mhL” Knasiak.

The majority of his journey has been spent playing for Danish teams, including Astralis and North. He has also played for teams such as FaZe Clan, HYENAS, and Team Dignitas, among others.

It is not certain if Kjaerbye will return to competitive matches once he has dealt with his personal issues, or whether he will simply retire once again.

At the moment, Endpoint are getting ready for ESL Challenger League Season 43 Europe while also continuing to compete in the ESL Premiership Autumn 2022.

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Although Team Heretics, which has been in the news after purchasing League of Legends team Misfits Gaming spot in the LEC, strongly denies these claims.

All of this can be fixed, if I get my 10k, that is all.

— XL FoxieGG (@Foxie_GG) July 27, 2022

?The UK esports professional claimed that upon his termination, Team Heretics declined to pay him the fee agreed upon in his contract.

?Foxie was signed on December 23, 2021, and was released from his contract in January. However, the 23-year old alleged that the organization was yet to give him his wages for the time he was a part of the team and the two months�� salary to be paid when his contract was terminated.

The player also claimed that in order to avoid paying him the full fee warranted by his termination, Team Heretics sold him to Team Oueso for a small fee.

?Foxie, sensing an alleged ruse, contested the transfer and claimed that the team attempted to evade the payout.

?Arnau Vidal, the co-owner of Team Heretics, reportedly confirmed the deal, however, rebuffed Foxie��s claims that the team refused to fulfil the contract agreement made with him.

According to Vidal, they had already started talking to Foxie��s agent about taking the player out of Team Heretics�� Valorant lineup. The discussion ended with an agreement that a certain amount of money would exchange hands for the player to be released.

?The former Team Heretics player further revealed that a significant reason the agreed-upon amount was not paid was because of two tweets he made that breached the agreement. Foxie previously made a farewell TwiLonger and tagged the Heretics Valorant roster he was a part of, which the franchise said was unreleased.

?While the player defended his actions, claiming that the roster was previously “announced by numerous outlets,” Team Heretics claimed it was yet to be officially announced, and leaking the roster damaged the organization.

?Vidal revealed that while the leaks from other unofficial sources were considered speculation, a former player posting the roster held more weight because he had inside knowledge of the team. The co-founder explained, “Foxie breached the terms of his contract by publicly disclosing confidential information against [Team Heretics��] benefit.”

?Foxie��s second tweet, which also breached the contract, was a list he made in which he placed European Valorant teams into tiers. Team Heretics was the only team placed at the bottom level, which was named “Al0rante and friends” and located after the “Mid tbh” and “Goodnight” tiers, which were both empty.

?After the tweet, the player reportedly received a letter from the organization’s lawyer claiming that the list conveyed a “derogatory and defamatory opinion” towards the team. Foxie went ahead to repost the tier list along with the letter. He was also informed that the team would not pay the agreed sum due to the “damaging content.”

Vidal went on to say that Team Heretics had to make a stand against Foxie’s breaches of his contract and pointed out other players who had not made claims against the outfit.

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With the 2021 OWL closing in, we are slowly getting a clearer picture of how the teams will look like and which names will be competing for the title of Season 3 champions.

There has been major roster moves with some organisations splashing out big to form super teams, while others opted for more audacious changes, but it was the Spitfire that stole the narrative.

After falling short of winning their second OWL title in the past two years, the UK-based team decided to make drastic changes ahead of the 2021 season and released their entire coaching staff at the start of October.

Only a couple weeks later, Spitfire also cut ties with seven of their players, with the remaining four getting the boot in the months that followed, which validated the rumour of a complete roster rebuild.

London Spitfire’s new venture centred around Ysabel “Noukky” M��ller, who got promoted to a position of a general manager, while also keeping her job as at the Spitfire’s academy team manager – the British Hurricane.

With Noukky taking over the reins of the entire Overwatch project, Spitfire drew out their plans for the future and revealed they will be stepping away from fielding an all-Korean roster, in favour of Western players, while taking advantage of Hurricane’s ability to develop world-class talent.

From November until the end of the year, Spitfire continued to make slight adjustments to their Overwatch League team, creating a strong foundation for the future. They signed former Delta Phoenix team owner Justin “reprize” Hand as their new head coach, and he will work alongside Xavier “CommanderX” Hardy and Mads “fischer” Jehg, who will be his assistants.

But it was the roster people are most inerested in and earlier this week when Spitfire slowly started to unveil the names that will represent their 2021 OWL roster. Those include DPS Jeffrey “Blas��” Tsang, William “SparkR” Andersson and Dominic “Hybrid” Grove, supports Riku “Ripa” Toivanen and Kristian “Kellex” Keller, as well as two tanks in Hadi Daniel “Hadi” Bleinagel and Mikkel “Molf1g” Djernes.

Blas�� arrived at the team as the first signing of Spitfire’s 2021 project in December after he spent one year at Houston Outlaws. Ripa, SparkR, Kellex, Hadi and Molf1g, meanwhile, are all a product of Spitfire’s academy team, where they helped write one of the most dominant storylines in the league’s history, by winning all but one regional Contenders tournament in 2020 – including the Overwatch Contenders 2020: The Gauntlet: Europe.

SparK and Hybrid were announced as Spitfire��s latest additions on Wednesday, January 6. Hybrid will – like Hadi and Molf1g – make his debut in the OWL next season, whereas SparK will have to wait until his 18th birthday on June 10, before he can step into the arena and compete with the best Overwatch players in the world.

Spitfire currently field only six members on their active OWL roster, however, they have more than enough time to fill in the gaps, since the start date of the 2021 season was pushed back to spring as announced by the Vice President of the Overwatch League Jon Spector in November.

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The British Counter-Strike pro had occupied an inactive role in the team since he was benched on March 20, as he had to leave the United States and return to England in order to deal with some issues related to his visa. Upon arriving back home, smooya had his meeting with the US embassy postponed to an undisclosed date, meaning he was left stranded in his home country.

With the US embassy shutting down all non-essential services in the UK amid the country-wide lockdown, smooya is unable to secure his visa and travel across Atlantic to join his team, who were left with no choice but to let the AWPer go.

“Today we are releasing smooya,” read the announcement from Chaos EC.

“The ongoing pandemic has postponed his visa interview indefinitely, therefore, he is unable to compete with the team in the US. Smooya is an exceptional talent, and we appreciate all of the energy he brought to the team.”

Smooya joined Chaos in early January when he was brought in from BIG as a replacement for the benched Gage “Infinite” Green, who was later released from the team. He played an integral part in his team’s success in the early months of 2020, which saw Chaos secure top spot at the FLASHPOINT Season 1: North American Qualifier in mid-February and a top-four finish at the resulting LAN qualifier.

During his time at Chaos, smooya averaged an impressive 1.32 HLTV rating, held a 63.2% map win rate and averaged over 1.00 in 85.3% of maps played.

“Due to COVID-19 I��ve been permanently removed from the Chaos EC roster meaning I��m a free agent,” said smooya.

“Sucks to lose a job because of the virus but it��s how it is sometimes ladies and gentlemen. I��ll be streaming most days and looking to mix/fill for anybody if needed!”

Smooya has yet to announce where he will continue his career, while Chaos EC have drafted in Logan “Voltage” Long as a fill-in for FLASHPOINT Season 1.

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Esports bookmakers have 100 Thieves priced as slight favourites over G2 Esports, which is fair. It is not so much that 100T are especially strong, but rather that their opponents look weaker than usual.

G2 have not seen any notable success on the CS:GO stage since they finished third-fourth at ESL One: New York back in September, and even there they only bested ENCE. While G2 pocketed silver at cs_summit 5 in December, the only two teams they defeated were FURIA and the old-look Virtus.pro.

G2 are a solid team on paper, yet it is clear something isn’t clicking in the squad. The team’s performance has suffered somewhat since the signing of Nemanja “nexa” Isakovi? and Nemanja “huNter-” Kova? back in September. At first, it seemed like the new squad needed time to gel, but after almost five months, it is clear that the issues lie somewhere else.

100 Thieves have yet to claim silverware since they signed the old Renegades roster. Their best result came in November, when they finished IEM Beijing in second place. That said, 100 Thieves�� roster works like a well-oiled machine with established synergy. While they might lack serious quality to contest top-tier titles, their teamwork alone gives them an edge over G2.

This bout will be a close one, so there is a good chance all three maps will be played. While 100 Thieves look the stronger team, G2 hold an advantage over them on Train and Dust II.

OG have seen fair amount of success since building their team back in December, namely the top-four finish at cs_summit 5. However, we don’t believe this squad is ready to make any serious noise on the big stage just yet.

The main concern we have with OG is that their roster consists of five players signed from five different teams, which clearly spells synergy concerns. There is no denying their cs_summit 5 run was a remarkable achievement, but since that initial hype has faded, OG have failed to deliver.

At ICE Challenge 2020, they finished fifth-sixth after dropping the ball in a 0-2 loss against MAD Lions. The European mix also finished IEM Katowice Open Qualifiers #2 fifth-eighth following a humiliating 10-16 defeat against AGO.

Evil Geniuses enter this bout fresh off a solid run at EPICENTER 2019, where they made it to the semi-finals but went down 0-2 to mousesports. Prior to that, Evil Genuises also claimed a fifth-sixth finish at the ESL Pro League S10 Finals and third-fourth at the ECS Season 8 Finals back in November.

OG might have a bright future ahead, but their results in recent weeks suggest they will struggle to keep up with Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz and his squad.

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NATUS VINCERE VS VITALITY CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

NATUS VINCERE VS VITALITY BLAST PREMIER SERIES SPRING 2020 BETTING PREVIEW

Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut will lead their teams into battle this Friday when Natus Vincere lock horns with Vitality in the opening fixture of Group B at BLAST Premier: Spring 2020.

Natus Vincere entered the inaugural season of the BLAST Premier Series hoping to claim their first LAN title since April 2019, when they won StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 7. For the past 10 months, s1mple and the company have put up mediocre results and failed to find any consistency.

Once regarded as one of the best teams in the world, NaVi endured a steady decline for the large part of 2019 and are now ranked eighth in the world on HLTV’s global rankings. There are many theories as to why Natus Vincere have been underperforming for almost a year, with many in the CS:GO esports community singling out Ladislav “GuradiaN” Kov��cs.

GuardiaN, who was a member of Natus Vincere for almost four years from 2013-2017, left for FaZe Clan in August 2017 and returned to the CIS squad two years later. Since his return, however, GuardiaN’s performances were less than impressive, as he averaged a 0.95 rating across four months.

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On January 24, Natus Vincere finally decided to bench GuardiaN in favour of Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy, who joined the team from Syman Gaming. Since his arrival, Perfecto has played three games for Natus Vincere at the ICE Challenge, where they defeated GODSENT twice and OG to set up a date with mousesports in the grand finals. Perfecto averaged a 1.04 rating across the three fixtures.

Vitality have not made any significant changes to the team since the signing of Richard “shox” Papillon back in September 2019. Shox arrived as a replacement for Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt, who left for OG at the end of the year. In January, Vitality also signed Mathieu “MaT” Leber as their assistant coach.

Unlike Natus Vincere, who struggled to make any noise in the CS:GO scene in 2019, Vitality saw plenty of success last year. Some of their most notable results were the ECS Season 7 title in June, fifth-eighth place at the Berlin Major, a silver medal at DreamHack Masters Malm? and the EPICENTER 2019 title at the end of December.

While all praiseworthy achievements, Vitality are also one of the most inconsistent teams in the game because they heavily rely on their star player, ZywOo. He averaged an impressive 1.56 rating in Vitality’s last five fixtures, where they defeated HellRaisers (2-0), EHOME (2-0), Natus Vincere (2-1), Heroic (2-0) and mousesports (2-1) in the finals of EPICENTER 2019.

NATUS VINCERE VS VITALITY BLAST PREMIER SPRING BETTING PREDICTIONS

This clash will be close and esports bookmakers have done an excellent job showing that with the betting odds.

Natus Vincere and Vitality met three times in 2019 and it was Vitality who pocketed two wins. However, it’s worth noting all three fixtures were close. Their first meeting at the IEM XII Katowice New Legends Stage ended in a 25-22 win for Natus Vincere, while their second clash at DreamHack Masters Malm? in October and most recent at EPICENTER ended in 2-1 wins for Vitality.

Besides the departure of GuardiaN and arrival of Perfecto at Natus Vincere, there have been no significant changes in either of the teams since their last meeting, which leads us to believe the balance of power will remain mostly the same. Vitality’s chances to win here will rely solely on ZywOo’s performance, while NaVi will look at s1mple and Perfecto to step up and show their worth.

This match can go either way, yet we are confident neither team has the tools to produce a clean sweep. Three rounds is what we expect to see, while generous betting odds on Natus Vincere��s outright win makes them a very solid pick as well.

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