Posts

Who shapes the growth of regional esports?

/0 Comments/in /by

As we know gaming is one of the biggest industries in the world and esports is getting more and more attention by the day. Eastern countries were the first to recognize its potential, and then Europe, and North and South America followed. Today we have successful esports tournaments all around the world.

A1 Adria League has been active for a long time now, actively working on improving esports in the Adriatic region, but there are many organizations that have been supporting the same story and providing a battlefield where the regional esports players will shine.

Regional esports organizations

There are a lot of positive examples of regional organizations that want to bring regional esports to a higher level. Good Game Global is a familiar name in regional esports as well and they had their mark in the growth of competitive esports, raising popularity in the b2b sectors and of course running their own league for students… They have been creating esports content, influencer campaigns, and other esports initiatives since 2016.

Fortuna Esports with their EBL franchise have been shaping careers for many League of Legends superstars who had their shine in the most prestigious organizations in the world. OGA Dota Pit brought an official Minor event to Croatia alongside teams like Fnatic, Astralis, Liquid, OG, … and what can we even say about Relog Media who surpassed the region a long time ago, but they are still supporting local players with invites to their multi-million dollar tournaments.

Some of the events to mention are Rikon, primarily a science fiction convention that sometimes organizes smaller esports tournaments. Then we would also mention Fantastic Esports and their Fantastic Gaming Show, Beyond Esports Conference, local events and tournaments ran by esports federations, and more.

 

A1 Adria League is one of the projects that is doing the most for the region. We have been active since 2017. Since then we have had 12 successful seasons (the 13th is ongoing). Every year we have more and more players who want to compete and maybe get a chance to be recognized by someone. Just last year we had:

  • over 250 hours streamed
  • 200k live views
  • 95k live viewers
  • over 1000 players

Is the Adriatic region giving any future to the players?

The fact that esports isn’t taken seriously is mostly affecting the players who don’t have a future here but need to play for foreign organizations and teams. The most recent cases are the players from Guild Eagles. RigoN just signed for BIG, while juanflatroo and sinnopsyy went to ITB, and we all know the quality of these players.

This is why A1AL is doing the most for the region. Even though the players at the moment don’t have a bright future with domestic teams, they get recognized playing our tournaments. Some of the players who played in A1AL and are now in Europe are:

  • Rigon “rigoN” Gashi – Played for BNE/Guild Eagles – Just a couple of days ago signed for BIG
  • Dionis “sinnopsyy” Budeci and Flatron “juanflatroo” Halimi – Played for BNE/Guild Eagles and recently signed to play under ITB (UK org)
  • Pavle “maden” Bošković – ATM plays for Falcons, previously played for ENCE
  • Toni “Sacre” Sabalić – Played for SK Gaming, currently at Schalke 04
  • Dino “LIMIT” Tot – As a player, we have seen him at SK Gaming, Schalke 04, and BDS, currently he is the assistant coach for SK
  • Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač i Nemanja “nexa” Isaković – won our A1AL season 2 with Valiance&Co, currently at G2 Esports

This week in A1AL: Second round is drawing to a close!

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Two FIFA and Brawl Stars and three CS:GO matches remain until the end of the second SWISS round. The teams are slowly gaining the lead in the group stage and are fighting for their spot in the playoffs.

Brawl Stars

As always, the opening game for our A1 Adria League week is Brawl Stars. First up is the duel between Lil Surprise and Mayoi – a match that will decide who joins Noble Elite BLK in the 2-0 pool. Mayoi managed to get here with a win against Omerta, while Lil Surprise beat a weakened 09 Gang in the first round.

When the first duel concludes, Noble Elite Red and QSKE will enter the arena to fight for their first win. As QSKE Gaming forfeited their last match, this will be the first time we are seeing them in this season of the A1 Adria League. Noble Elite Red are still recovering from their defeat versus Tora Gold which sent them to the 0-1 pool. After this match, one of the teams will join 09 Gang in the 0-2 pool, while the other one will hold their spot in the middle of the standings.

Brawl Stars Round 2-2

FIFA

Friday, FIFA day! The only Slovenian player in this season, Leon “Sardinho213” Sardi will face Armin “Arminho0307” Hasanbegović in the first match. Arminho barely lost his match in the previous round and will be looking to fix his mistake versus Sardinho. Sardinho, on the other hand, was demolished by amke2001 6-1 which really isn’t a great start of the season. Though we are still early on and there are plenty of chances for the Slovenian FIFA player to redeem himself, his first being on Friday versus Arminho.

Marko “Klaic” Klaić and Emir “Sulja” Suljović – a clash between the new players. Each of them won one of the qualifying cups despite facing great competition from the whole region, but their start wasn’t the best and they are now looking to get their first victory. Sulja fell to brstimir and klaic wasn’t able to defeat FIFAFICO. After Friday ends, one of them will be playing in the 0-2 pool, while the second one will join FIFAFICO, esad1memic and the Sardinho/Arminho winner with 1-1.

FIFA Round 2-2

CS:GO

ONYX weren’t able to compete on Sunday so the match was rescheduled for the next playday. That means that we will be watching three great CS:GO matches on Sunday, with ONYX opening up the fourth playday at 14 o’clock. Their opponents will be PORTUGAL.

When that match concludes, Midnight will take on Onliners in our second BO3 of the day. Both teams are new to the League and haven’t met each other yet, which means that the match will be even more interesting than usual. To end the day, 4glory will face Good Game – a match between two of the favorites for this season of A1 Adria League.