The pilot season of the CSGO tournament for young esports players has come to an end, and mouz NXT have emerged as victors.
The $100,000 WePlay Academy League was announced back in July, with each team required to consist of at least four players aged between 16 and 20.
During the grand final, mouz NXT earned the victory with an 3-1 score, having put up a fight against Young Ninjas.
The WePlay Academy League Season 1 was held from July 19th to August 29th 2021, with online group and gauntlet stages and playoffs at the WePlay Esports Arena Kyiv.
London-based esports organisation Fnatic finished in third place, after losing 2-1 to mouz NXT in the lower-bracket final.
Fnatic Rising is of course the name of Fnatic’s academy teams. In League of Legends, Fnatic Rising are about to do battle in the European Masters. Fnatic Rising are the UK’s sole representative in the Summer 2021 EU Masters and they made it through the play-ins to join Danish NLC winners Tricked in the main event.
The WePlay Academy League tournament was launched by WePlay Esports in partnership with several top CSGO organisations (see below).
The final prize pool breakdown for season one of t he CSGO WePlay Academy League is as follows:
Final prize pool breakdown:
- 1st place — mouz NXT — $45,000
- 2nd place — Young Ninjas — $20,000
- 3rd place — Fnatic Rising — $15,000
- 4th place — BIG. OMEN Academy — $8,000
- 5th place — NAVI Junior — $6,000
- 6th place — VP.Prodigy — $3,000
- 7th place — Astralis Talent — $2,000
- 8th place — FURIA Academy — $1,000
Details on season two of the Academy League will be announced by WePlay at a later date.
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.
