ESL announce Pro League qualifiers for Latin America
When the ESL Pro League announced it's re-worked, all-LAN season they added a group made up of solely Latin American teams. Now, ESL have announced how the four team group will secure its teams.
Two of the teams will be sourced from the upcoming LA League, set to take place this February, with the two finalist teams making their way to the USA for the offline group. The LA League will see its four teams qualify from three separate areas; two teams from Brazil, and one each from the 'Northern Cone' and 'Southern Cone' of Latin America.
The final two places in the Latin America group will be sourced from qualifiers in the Northern and Southern portions of Latin America. The qualifiers, which begin with an open portion before moving to a closed portion, will take place over February and March. Both regional qualifiers will promote one team to the ESL Pro League. The qualifiers will be single elimination, with best-of-ones until the semifinals which will be a best-of-three. The open qualifier will promote two teams to the region's respective closed qualifier.
The details of the qualifiers are as follows:
- Latin America North
- Open Qualifier - February 16-17th
- Closed Qualifier - March 9-10th
- Latin America South
- Open Qualifier - February 23rd-24th
- Closed Qualifier - March 16-17th
It is worth noting that Brazilian teams will be unable to qualify for the ESL Pro League through these qualifiers, with them required to do so via the LA League.
Season 9 of the ESL Pro League will start on April 12th, with 16 teams split over four groups taking part.
