As Collegiate Rocket League expands to Europe, Psyonix tells Esports News UK how this will affect existing collegiate leagues in the UK like the NUEL, NSE and British Esports Student Champs

collegiate rocket league

For transparency: Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco used to work full-time for British Esports between September 2016 and February 2021, and currently does some freelance work for them, producing their weekly email newsletter.

Update (February 7th 2022): Psyonix is sponsoring the European University Rocketeers Championship, which will feature 40 of Europe’s best uni teams and a €10,000 prize pool.

The UK’s National Student Esports (NSE) has also been announced as one of Psyonix’s national partners, and will run a tournament this Spring.

Original article (January 15th 2022):

Collegiate Rocket League (CRL) is returning and going international for the first time – but what does this mean for existing collegiate leagues, specifically those in the UK?

First of all, the CRL 2022 Spring Season is expanding to include Europe, with the season culminating in the first ever CRL World Championship this June.

There will be a number of regional leagues across Europe to find the best teams and top performers from those leagues will qualify for the CRL World Championship. More information about how European university students can sign up and participate in the upcoming CRL season will be revealed at a later date.

For North America, 32 teams will battle it out in round robin league play this season for a share of $100,000 in scholastic awards.

Qualifiers take place on the weekends of January 29th and 30th and February 5th and 6th 2022, with league play beginning on February 14th. Rather than competing for the title of CRL National Champion this year, teams will be striving to reach the CRL World Championship in June.  

In terms of existing tournaments, like the NUEL and NSE (university level) and British Esports Student Championships (school/college level) in Rocket League in the UK, Cory Lanier, Psyonix’s esports manager of product, told Esports News UK: “We’re still working out the final details of our partners in EU, but our intention is to work with everyone closely. We are aware of many of the existing leagues and are working on an invite system to our qualifier that will grant EU teams their ticket to the CRL World Championship.

“We are aware of many of the existing leagues and are working on an invite system to our qualifier that will grant EU teams their ticket to the CRL World Championship.”

Cory Lanier, Psyonix

“We look at the EU expansion as an opportunity to expand the league and operate alongside existing regional university leagues, without disrupting their operations. Our hope is that kicking this off this year will help ignite more competitions and grassroot efforts in Europe around university leagues that will help guide us on the eventual creation of a global CRL Circuit.”

Psyonix added in this Collegiate Rocket League article on its website: “Not only are we looking to expand the overall CRL competitive landscape, but we’re also working on new educational opportunities for students within the Rocket League Esports ecosystem.

“It’s a big undertaking, but we’re excited to not only change the student experience through competition, but also to provide meaningful experiences to help students become the creators of tomorrow. We’ll have more to share on our plans here in the future.”

Collegiate Rocket League has been going for around five years now.

Elsewhere, the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) 2021-22 Winter Split has got underway. Team BDS earned the title of RLCS 2021-22 Fall Major Champions, but it’s once again time for the best Rocket League players in the world to face off in the Winter Split.

Related article: Interview with Endpoint UK Rocket League player RelatingWave by Craftman | Powered by MSI

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