Some of the world’s best esports professional players are looking forward to competing in Abu Dhabi at the BLAST Premier World Final in Abu Dhabi after the teams’ line-up was confirmed for next week’s showpiece event.
Yas Island’s Etihad Arena will stage the Counter-Strike 2 tournament on 16th and 17th December where eight of the best teams will battle to become 2023 champions and a share of the $1 million prize pool. BLAST organises the tournament in partnership with ADGaming, a pioneering gaming and esports initiative under the Abu Dhabi government.
The teams line-up is now finalised after Cloud9 from the United States with a European core of players became the eighth and final side to qualify for Abu Dhabi’s World Final. Their semi-final appearance in the recent BLAST Premier Fall Final in Copenhagen saw them secure their qualification through the season’s world leaderboard position after Fall Final champions Team Vitality had already booked their World Final berth following their Paris Major triumph in May.
Cloud9 joins current World Final champions G2 (European), Faze Clan (United States), Heroic (Denmark), Mouz (Germany), Ence (Finland), Navi (Ukraine) and Team Vitality (France) in a strong field, and two of players that will be in action cannot wait to play in Abu Dhabi.
Navi’s Justinas Lekavicius (jL) said: “All the teams are strong and have the talent to lift the trophy. I haven’t been to Abu Dhabi yet but from what I’ve seen and heard, it’s an amazing city and now looking forward to going there for the BLAST Premier World Final in December and ending the year with a trophy.”
For Faze Clan’s Helvijs Saukants (Broky), he is looking forward to playing at the Etihad Arena. He said: “It’s always great to be playing in a World Final and that too at the end of the year. We lost in the semi-finals last year so hopefully we can come back and do better. The stage (last year) was very interesting and cool and to have played in a new building such as Etihad Arena was amazing. It will be great to play there again.”
The BLAST Premier World Final is the most high-profile esports tournament to take place in Abu Dhabi for the second consecutive year and will help contribute to growing the esports sector in the Emirate.
Andrew Haworth, Programme Director for BLAST Premier, said: “To have such a strong field of the world’s best players and teams who have their sights set on claiming this prestigious trophy shows you how highly regarded the BLAST Premier World Final is and we cannot wait to deliver what will be an even better edition following our success in 2022 in Abu Dhabi.
“The teams have earned their spot after a long season and the event will not only showcase the very best of esports but audiences inside the magnificent Etihad Arena can look forward to a spectacular atmosphere that they never experienced before – whether they are esports fans or not.”
Tickets to the BLAST Premier World Final can be bought on Ticketmaster and Etihad Arena with prices starting at just AED 160. Discounts of up to 20 per cent for those who wish to book four or more tickets and hospitality tickets are also available.
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