Street Fighter V invitational tournament Red Bull Kumite is hosting its first ever UK Qualifier at London’s Red Bull Gaming Sphere later this month.
UK qualifiers take place on Sunday July 15th and the grand final takes place in a cage in Paris on November 10th and 11th (last year’s event pictured).
Players can sign up here. And those who want to get into shape for the Red Bull Kumite UK qualifier can come down to the weekly Practice Quarters event at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere every Thursday, where the fighting game community perfect their Street Fighter skills together. The Sphere also hosts the monthly Winner Stays On Street Fighter tournament.
Red Bull is hoping to draw the most accomplished Street Fighter V Arcade Edition players in the nation to battle it out at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere.
Winners of the UK qualifier will have the opportunity to represent the nation at the Red Bull Kumite Last Chance Qualifier in Paris on November 10th, the night before the main event.
They will also win the trip to Paris and a noblechairs EPIC gaming chair.
“Winners of the UK qualifier will have the opportunity to represent the nation at the Red Bull Kumite Last Chance Qualifier in Paris on November 10th, the night before the main event.”
The Last Chance Qualifier will see entrants pitted against 256 of the best Street Fighter players from around the world to battle it out for a top spot in the grand final.
Professional players Packz, Shakz and Hurricane are already confirmed to compete, with further names to be announced over the coming weeks.
Eight countries, including the UK, are hosting their own Kumite pre-qualifiers for the first time to determine the strongest fighting game players in the country to take part in the Last Chance Qualifier. The two finest players will then go on to compete in the iconic cage at the main event in Paris.
Last year, Red Bull Kumite drew 1.4m viewers on Twitch and 700,000 on Facebook Live.
Check-in for the UK qualifier on July 15th opens at 10.30am, with the double-elimination competition getting underway at 12pm. Entrants must be 16 and over.
The qualifier will be streamed live on the Red Bull Esports Twitch channel.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
