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A look back – The history of the A1 Adria League

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In May of 2017, the Vip Adria League was announced. Since then we’ve crowned many champions, and seen many changes, whether it was name, format, games, or basically everything else. Five years later, as we are in the middle of the qualifiers for the tenth season of the League it’s time to take a look back.

Vip Adria League (2017.)

It all started in Spring 2017. with the announcement of the biggest regional esports league to date. Back then, there was only one season of the League throughout the year. Competitive integrity standards were set high with the open qualifiers and the group stage leading to the LAN finals. Three games were chosen to be a part of the League: League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and FIFA.

Reboot InfoGamer 2017 hosted the first ever Vip Adria League LAN finals in front of a live audience. Over the course of several days, fans had the opportunity to enjoy watching the best players and teams from all over the region competing for the prestigious title. Valiance&CO outplayed Squared Esports in the finals of the CS:GO. KilkTech reigned supreme in the League of Legends and another KilkTech player, Edinho, lifted the trophy in FIFA. It was a great year for KlikTech since they had representatives in all three games, and managed to win the title in two of them. It was hard to predict back then where it will all end up.

The new name (2018)

Year after the league got its new name. Vip Adria League became A1 Adria League in 2018. There were also some other significant changes. Hearthstone and Clash Royale were added to the mix to complement the CS:GO and League of Legends. Generally, the format stayed the same, and all four games had their spotlight during the LAN finals at Reboot InfoGamer 2018. Four years ago, adding a mobile game to the esports league was not as standard as it is today. Mobile gaming was growing really fast and with it the whole esports surrounding it. Still, it was pretty undeveloped if we’re comparing it with today’s standards.

Valiance&CO again proved to be by far the best regional CS:GO team, securing their second title and going on to compete on the biggest stages in the world. Along with the trophy came the invitation to the closed qualifier for the Bucharest Gaming Week. Unfortunately, regional representatives finished 3rd/4th, and Sprout went on to compete in Romania. ASUS ROG ELITE came from the biggest regional success in history after securing Top 4 placement in the European Masters 2018 Summer and claimed the trophy in League of Legends. Luka “vulee” Vulović became the best Hearthstone player in the region. Saša “SaSaa” Mišković won the first ever Clash Royale trophy in the history of the A1 Adria League.

The dual seasons

2019 was the first year in which we had two seasons of the A1 Adria League in one calendar year. Season 3 & Season 4. The concept was a bit different and the season were connected. Dota 2 was added to the League for the first time instead of League of Legends. CS:GO, Hearthstone,and Clash Royale remained a part of the League. Season 3 was played online, while Season 4 had full LAN finals at Reboot InfoGamer 2019. Only Nikola managed to win both seasons in Clash Royale. Not a single team or a player in other games managed to win both seasons. In the end, Level Up won in Dota 2. ex-BLUEJAYS were the best CS:GO team while Paljuha won the trophy in Hearthstone.

A1 Adria League Season 4

A1 Adria League Season 5 & 6

At the beginning of 2022 the COVID-19 pandemic started. Now it seems like it was a lifetime ago. FIFA 20 was introduced back to the League replacing Dota 2 and Brawl Stars jumped in instead of Hearthstone. The pandemic also meant we had to switch from LAN events to online events. The finals of the A1 Adria League were played during the Reboot Online Games Week ever since. In 2020 some interesting storylines took off. lvlUp proved to be the best CS:GO team in the region that year by winning both seasons. Crushers won Season 5 in Clash Royale, while Joza Esports won Season 6. Good Game dominated in Brawl Stars by securing second place in the spring season and then having both teams in the finals of Season 6. One of the biggest rivalries in the A1 Adria League kicked off that year with esad1memic winning the first FIFA trophy of the year and amke claiming the second one.

The return of the League of Legends

Since there was no more LAN finals at the end of the year for Season 7 and Season 8 the prize pool was redistributed so both seasons are worth the same. League of Legends came back to the League while Clash Royale took a break. While we had various winners in all the games: ONYX & PORTUGAL in CS:GO, Split Raiders & METAMOON in League of Legends, Noble Elite BLK & Flow in Brawl Stars, amke continued his streak and won both seasons in FIFA. Making it a three in a row for the first time in any game in the history of the League. Again, all the finals were played during the Reboot Online Games Week. The pandemic was still bringing havoc and it wasn’t possible to organize the LAN finals.

Where are we now?

Season 9 finished several months ago. Again, during the Reboot Online Games Week. This year seven different games were introduced to the League. CS:GO, FIFA, and Brawl Stars remained in their format, while four remaining games were played in qualifiers and playoffs format. BLUEJAYS claimed another CS:GO trophy. Salada de Frutas dominated in Clash Royale and went on to win second place at the Clash of Leagues in Salzburg. Amke made it four in a row in FIFA. DZANGLERI won the League of Legends tournament, Entropiq was the best PUBG Battlegrounds team. Balkan Stars beat Diamant Esports to claim the first ever A1 Adria League trophy in VALORANT.

Qualifiers for the tenth season of the A1 Adria League are being played right now. There is still a chance for everyone to secure their spot on the group stage. How will Season 10 of the A1 Adria League end, and how? You’ll just have to wait a bit more and find out. Meanwhile, check the qualifiers for all the games on the official page. If you want to check the full history of the A1 Adria League you can do that by visiting the History page.

Amke wins the first FIFA 22 qualifier over almost 100 players

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Despite a lot of players signing up for the first FIFA 22 qualifier for the tenth season of the A1 Adria League,  Tarik “Amke” Novo managed to secure the win.

Amke continues his domination

It’s always a pleasure to see a lot of new players joining the A1 Adria League community. Last Friday we had the opportunity to witness a lot of new faces competing for the points in the first FIFA 22 qualifier. In the end, most of the favorites did their job and claimed some points. It’s just the first qualifier, which means we still have three qualifiers left to determine who will be advancing to the group stage.

Standings ended up looking like this. Amke won over Harun “Hara” Parla and secured 100 points. That left Hara with 70 points after the first qualifier. Gruby won third place and 50 points by beating last Mrky2402 in the Croatian derby. You can check all the results on the qualifier page.

A1AL FIFA 22 Qualifier 1

The second qualifier will take place on Friday the 9th of September; you can already sign up for it!

 

Stevan Mačkić: The viewers can expect big surprises!

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We witnessed an interesting four qualifiers in FIFA22 this season. The group stage in A1 Adria League is starting soon, and the competition has never been more intense. Before the beginning of the SWISS group stage, we talked with a well-known FIFA caster Stevan Mačkić about the qualifiers, this year’s competition, his expectations, and more.

Last season FIFA22 was a brand new game. How different is it this season?

The transition from PS4 to PS5 included the transition to Hypermotion, and the difference is noticeable but difficulties exist every year and the players are adapting over and over again. The autumn season is always challenging for players in A1 Adria League because it comes at the transition from one to the other game, and they (the players) SWISS style part of the league play with new teams, but I think the quality always comes to the surface.

This season’s qualifiers were one of the most intense ones ever. We didn’t know who was going to advance up until the last qualifiers cup. What does this tell you about this year’s competition?

It is enough to point out the fact that for the winner of the second qualifier Luka, not even 100 points was enough for him to advance to the SWISS stage, and it’s clear about what kind of competition we are talking about. The bar has been raised to the next level and to enter the league stage is not enough for you to shine in one qualifier, but to constantly play well and earn points from week to week.

Many familiar names made their way to the group stage. Who do you expect to see in the finals? 

As a caster, I must remain impartial and objective. All I’ll say is that the viewers can expect big surprises.

FIFA Stevan Mačkić

What do you think about Amke’s performance in the qualifiers, seeing that he didn’t manage to win a single cup but still advanced to the next stage as the second seed?

I have always seen Amke as one of the most talented Balkanian players. The three consecutive titles in A1 Adria League prove that. Do I agree with everything he did and wrote after the sixth, seventh, and especially the eighth season, that’s a completely different question. In the ninth season maybe Amke had a slightly weaker start, but I have never doubted that he will be able to adapt to the gameplay and secure his spot in the top 8.

Do you think that someone can dethrone Amke, or the championship is his once again?

Amke’s confidence is on a high level, after the eighth season’s finale he himself pointed out that it was “the easiest ever A1 Adria League title to win”. Is he going to effortlessly win another title in the ninth season we will find out in the next month.

The ninth season finals will be broadcasted as a part of Reboot Online Games Week in Osijek. What is your experience from the finals last year, and are you looking forward to the one in Osijek? 

After the one in Zagreb in June last year I thought it can’t get any better than this, but then in Šibenik, I received the stage and studio which can compete with the production of FIFA Global Series tournaments. I am convinced that the management of the league led by Leonardo and Marijana will exceed expectations once again and that all of us from the FIFA Balkan Community will provide the audience with the best experience that the regional scene can offer at the moment. I would also like to thank our tournament admins Maid Korić and Tarik Gagula for taking care that every week everything goes well during the preliminary phase of the qualification tournaments. Regarding us casters, Mole and I are ready and we can’t wait for the beginning of the SWISS stage.