The NUEL and Riot Games renew partnership: ‘We’re looking forward to adding more unique activities for university students’

UK university esports tournament provider The NUEL and League of Legends developer Riot Games have today announced a renewal of their official partnership.

For the coming academic year, Riot will provide direct support for the League of Legends University Series as well as more than 130 offline events taking place on campuses around the UK over the course of the year, with additional ‘unique’ events to be announced.

The League of Legends University Series will be entering its 10th year, having seen a record of over 300 teams from 124 universities take part in 2018/19.

The tournament is designed to give students of all skill levels the opportunity to participate, as well as provide a platform for aspiring esports talent to show their skills.

The NUEL’s official partnership with Riot Games also provides a route into the University Esports Masters and Tencent’s International College Cup, giving the best players the chance to test themselves against the strongest university teams across the globe.

In addition to other prizes, the champions will win a one-of-a-kind trip to the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) to meet their favourite professional players and go backstage to learn about more about working in the esports industry. This is something the NUEL has been doing for a few years now – NUEL founder Josh Williams told Esports News UK about student trips to the then-named EU LCS back in this 2015 interview.

Riot Games and The NUEL will also be extending support for their unique ‘Realms’ events in the coming year. This consists of live events held on campuses all over the UK, each focusing on a different region of the League of Legends universe (Runeterra).

The events give students the opportunity to meet other players, grab exclusive League of Legends swag and run into the now legendary 20ft-tall inflatable Poro.

This support will also aim to provide opportunities for more students to level up their skills  in event organisation, casting, production, marketing and other valuable areas.

“After nine years of running League of Legends activities, and five years of direct partnership with Riot Games, we are delighted to be able to extend this relationship further,” said Josh Williams, founder and MD of The NUEL.

“Our number one priority is supporting students to build communities, make friends, and have unforgettable experiences around gaming, and we’re looking forward to working with Riot Games to keep adding more unique activities and opportunities for students to get involved in.”

“We’re passionate about delivering great experiences to League of Legends players throughout the UK, and partnering with The NUEL helps us do that by giving university students access to all kinds of great LoL events throughout the academic year,” added Mark Cox, UK Country Manager at Riot Games.

“The League University Series is a great way for players to hone their competitive play and for the best among them to find a path to pro, and the Realms events are a superb addition that open Runeterra up to an even wider audience. We’re delighted to continue this partnership.”

Dom Sacco

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.