The ESL Premiership, the UK and Ireland esports tournament, returns next week.
The CSGO Spring Season gets underway on Monday March 1st 2021.
While it’s just the CSGO Premiership that’s been confirmed at this time, other tournaments in the past have included the Dota 2 Prem, so expect more Prems to possibly be announced in the future.
The August 2020 CSGO Prem was won by UK org Endpoint, who last year also qualified for the ESL Pro League.
As part of today’s news, ESL UK has also announced that energy drink brand Beyond NRG is on board as an official partner for the ESL Premiership Spring Season across all titles, starting with CSGO.
The drink brand is manufactured in the South East of the UK, with a focus on providing a tangible benefit to competitive play.
This marks the first substantial drinks brand sponsorship of the domestic competitive scene for ESL UK in the modern era of the tournament.
Beyond also bring with them a brand new mechanic for the tournament – the ‘Clutch Moment’. This will track and celebrate players who create clutch moments in official competition across the ESL Premiership broadcast and social media channels, highlighting individual player talent.
ESL UK is also giving viewers discounts on Beyond products via exclusive codes on broadcast.
“We are really excited to kickstart the season with ESL, as supporting British esports is at the heart of our mission here at Beyond,” said Billy Webb, CEO at Beyond NRG.
“We can’t wait to prove ourselves in the industry as the drink that genuinely helps people compete, whilst putting nutrition at the forefront of
gamers minds.
“Our formula is something we worked on for over 18 months, tried and tested in in-game competitive situations, and now is the time for the world to experience what we have worked so hard on.”
Beyond is also targeting emerging talent across gaming and esports with affiliate opportunities, with applications open here.
Dan Ellis, partnerships director at ESL UK, added: “This partnership comes at a time where there’s renewed focus on professionalising the health and nutritional options for the industry. From the off, Beyond has approached local esports with an open mind and a fresh enthusiasm to help move these players forward through the path-to-pro system.”
Fans can tune in to the ESL Premiership on the ESL CSGO Twitch Channel to keep up with all the clutch moments and track the Beyond Clutch leaderboard by following ESL UK on Twitter.
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.
