The UK Esports League (UKEL) has announced the eight teams set to take part in its inaugural season.
UKEL is a new tournament that is positioning itself as the unofficial division 2 of League of Legends esports in the UK and Ireland, one tier below Riot and LVP UK’s UKLC competition.
It was first publicly revealed late last month and this past weekend has revealed the following teams taking part:
- Absolved
- Bulldog Esports
- Clique Esports (formerly Newcastle Jaguars)
- Lions Creed (formerly Lionhearts)
- Mythos
- Nuclear Storm
- Radiant Esports
- Viperio
The UKEL has been put together by Darkspawn Gaming, which, for obvious reasons will not be taking part in the competition. The team includes Marc Busby, Alex ‘Synygy’ Winton, Gitsea Games and Jenny ‘Jeno’ Busby.
This has been the culmination of a month or so’s work and I couldn’t be happier with the teams we’ve secured! Thank you to everyone who applied and supported us to make this happen https://t.co/BS7UTw6G2P
— Alex (@synygy_) July 7, 2019
Teams will now be hurrying to finalise all their player rosters ahead of the first evening of UKEL matches, which gets underway on Monday July 29th.
Riot’s first UKLC tournament took place earlier this year as a platform to feature the UK and Ireland’s very best teams and players. It has created the off-season Forge of Champions as something to find the next top teams and players from the UK at a grassroots level.
However, there are several UK League of Legends players and teams that want to test themselves on a regular basis who have been crying out for something like UKEL for some time now.
The UKEL offers a good opportunity for orgs like Clique, Nuclear Storm, Radiant and the others listed above who are bubbling below the UKLC level.
Appreciate you taking us! League of Legends may not be our main title but we look to start our legacy here.
Thank you for the support, we hope to bring something fresh and new to this growing community. #StartTheFire https://t.co/drDM6zWWvC
— Radiant Esports (@RadiantEsports) July 7, 2019
We can’t wait to see how the league shapes up and look forward to watching the UK LoL stars of the future emerge.
Check back on Esports News UK soon for an interview with the team behind UKEL, and in the meantime you can visit the UKEL website here.
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.
