Last night saw Haseeb ‘BlueSpirits’ Rasool emerge victorious at the UK final of Red Bull Player One, a global 1v1 League of Legends tournament.
The final saw 16 of the nation’s best League of Legends duelists (who made it through the Last Chance Qualifier on October 4th) go head to head.
The UK Red Bull Player One final – which took place at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in London – featured commentary from current LEC host Eefje ‘Sjokz’ Depoortere, as well as homegrown British stars Ciernan ‘Excoundrel’ Lowe, and Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlet. Harry ‘DocDa’ Evans also did post-match interviews and cast the finals.
BlueSpirits dominated the competition, having qualified for the 1v1 tournament by winning one of two Red Bull Player One university qualifiers in UK campuses earlier this week. He beat his opponent 3-1 in a hard-fought final.
As well as securing his spot in the global final in São Paulo from November 30th to December 1st, BlueSpirits has also won the opportunity to train with UKLC League of Legends team MnM Gaming at the Red Bull Player One Bootcamp to prepare for the world stage.
The Red Bull Player One UK last chance qualifier featured open signups, meaning players across the country had the chance to take part. 16 players made it through to the UK grand final, before being narrowed down to the top eight who faced off on the live broadcast when BlueSpirits emerged victorious.
Intel and ROG are the official hardware partners of Red Bull Player One UK.
“The fact Sjokz believes in me definitely improves my chances in Brazil but I still think it’s going to be tough. Hopefully I can prove myself wrong and I hope my friends will be able to watch me and I can do them proud.”
HASEEB ‘BLUESPIRITS’ RASOOL
“I had an amazing time at the Red Bull Player One UK Finals at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere. It was really crazy to see how everyone came together in support of BlueSpirits. A lot of the friends he only made at the Qualifier were all here and it was super cool,” said Eefje ‘Sjokz’ Depoortere.
“I got to watch the final in the crowd, and everyone was super excited. There was a good sense of fun and community. BlueSpirits was underrating himself if he says he’s not going to do well in Brazil because he did beat players who were literally 1v1 players and he held his cool and he did it. For me, he’s going to represent the UK well!”
Haseeb ‘BlueSpirits’ Rasool commented: “Overall, I had a great experience – I made so many friends and I just had lots of fun. I didn’t think I’d enjoy 1v1 as much as I did. I love playing League of Legends and I’m just so happy.
“The fact Sjokz believes in me definitely improves my chances in Brazil but I still think it’s going to be tough. Hopefully I can prove myself wrong and I hope my friends will be able to watch me and I can do them proud.”
Red Bull Player One is a global tournament with over 25 countries holding regional events across the globe. The 1v1 format obviously means only one player will take the trophy home from the world finals.
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.
