Riot Games is teaming up with tournament operator Blast to deliver the third instalment of the online Valorant Spike Nations charity tournament from October 14th to 16th 2022.
12 EMEA-based teams, made up of professional esports players, popular gaming personalities and streamers from the VCT, VRLs, and Game Changers circuits, will represent their regions as they compete against each other for a €60,000 prize pool and fight for a bigger share of the winnings to donate to their charity of choice.
And Team UK will be back once again. While Team UK’s roster for the third Spike Nations has not yet been revealed, previous rosters have included players like Onscreen, SoMarcus, Flights, Karagii, Boaster, Mistic and more.
“Blast are thrilled to welcome back Spike Nations for its third instalment and are delighted to see the fan-favourite tournament become a mainstay of the Valorant calendar.”
Leo Matlock, Blast
UK finished 5th-8th in the second Valorant Spike Nations tournament which took place in October 2021, and finished second in the first tournament in November 2020, where ten teams competed.
Last year the event expanded to 12 teams with Eastern Europe taking home the trophy and over €14,000 for their chosen charity, Te Aud Romania.
The on-air talent team will be a mix of familiar faces from the VCT scene to up-and-comers from the VRL scene.
The tournament format will consist of three groups of four, where the two top teams in each group will progress to the knockout stage. Fans can also help secure their teams name in the knockouts by donating – with the two teams with the most fan donations securing their place in the second stage of the tournament.
Valorant Spike Nations 2022 teams
- Team United Kingdom
- Team France
- Team Spain
- Team Portugal
- Team Nordics
- Team Poland
- Team Turkey
- Team Italy
- Team DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
- Team Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)
- Team Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Greece, Cyprus and Israel)
- Team MENA (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya)
‘We’re excited for fans once again to get behind their nations’ – Riot & Blast
Leo Matlock, MD for development at Blast, said: “Blast are thrilled to welcome back Spike Nations for its third instalment and are delighted to see the fan-favourite tournament become a mainstay of the Valorant calendar.
“We look forward to further strengthening our long-term relationship with Riot Games, raising money for charities and delivering three days of high-quality Valorant action, while celebrating the EMEA ecosystem and engaging with passionate fans across the region.”
Felix Morgan, EMEA head of action games for Riot Games, remarked: “The response from players to last year’s event was fantastic, and we’re glad to be able to work with Blast once again to bring back Spike Nations for a third time.
“After what has been another exciting year for Valorant, both in-game, and in our pro competitions, we’re excited for fans once again to get behind their nations and cheer on their favourite creators, pro players and personalities from the scene.”
Fans will be able to follow the action on twitch.tv/blasttv and player POVs, with more information to follow in the coming weeks.
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.
