The winning UK student teams in the 2022 Amazon University Esports Winter Split have been crowned at the Confetti X esports hub in Nottingham.
The finals took place on December 9th and 10th 2022, with NUEL and GGTech running and promoting the tournament.
More than 100 UK universities took part in the Winter Split, with thousands of students playing in League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, CSGO, Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League, Clash Royale and Overwatch 2.
In addition to being named the top teams in the UK and Ireland, the winners of Rocket League, League of Legends and Valorant also secured their qualification to play against the top teams from around Europe in the 2023 edition of Amazon University Esports Masters.
The news comes after NUEL partnered with Confetti for a £5m esports complex opening.
The full list of Amazon University Esports Winter 2022 winners
In Riot Games’ titles, ‘Samj1046’ from De Montfort University won the League of Legends finals, University of Exeter’s ‘GoNexeter’ won Valorant, and in Teamfight Tactics, player ‘ylc0’ from the University of Bristol showed his skills.
In the Woman and Non-Binary competitions, the best teams were ‘Galactic Meow’ in League of Legends, and ‘Aschente’ in Valorant, with both teams made up of mixed university players.
The winners’ list was completed by the ‘KCL Lions’ team, from King’s College London, winning the CSGO finals; University of Exeter’s ‘Exeterrific’ in Rainbow Six Siege; ‘UEA Bluejays’, from University of East Anglia in Rocket League; the best team in Overwatch 2 was ‘Warwick Angels’, playing for the University of Warwick; and it was a victory for ‘SaintBelikin’, representing the University of Nottingham, in Clash Royale.
Tao Martinez, Head of University Esports Development at GGTech, commented:
“Over the weekend, we raised the bar to an extremely high level. As a result of Confetti’s partnership, we were able to provide fans with a unique experience in facilities that can be compared with professional leagues.”
Tao Martinez, GGTech
“Giving our players the best possible competition and visibility, something we achieved last weekend, has always been our goal. The support of students at the beginning of their careers was essential to the success of this project.”
Amazon University Esports has the support of publishers such as Riot Games, brands like HP Omen, and Prime Student.
Support for community tournaments and talent
This season, Amazon University Esports also supported two community-run tournaments through a fund made available to community organisers to help them get off the ground.
This year saw the return of the popular National University osu! Tournament and University Halo Chamber League. For osu!, the winners were lystia from Newcastle University in the Expert division, eu9n, representing Heriot-Watt University in the Intermediate, and Vodito from University of Surrey in the Novice category.
Amazon University Esports said it’s also committed to reaching out and supporting the students in other ways, such as providing opportunities for people looking to progress into the industry.
45 early career casters, observers and producers were chosen to be involved in the production of live Amazon University Esports broadcasts this season. For some this was their first paid broadcast production.
You can see a Twitter thread naming some of the talent here, including host Hazza:
Amazon University Esports added that support has been provided to student communities throughout the Winter season, including support for society freshers’ fairs, guest lectures, communication tools and other community activities.
Students were also able to get involved in the running of both Rising Stars (the first official women’s League of Legends tournament in Northern Europe) and the Teamfight Tactics Dragonlands Championships in November.
Esports University Tour announced for the UK
In Spring, Amazon University Esports will also be launching the University Tour in the UK. This is a face-to-face event, visiting universities around the country, which ‘aims to introduce students to the esports ecosystem, provide fun activities to participate in, and demonstrate the opportunities available in the space’.
Registration for the second split competitions will open soon and will be announced on Amazon University Esports social media and on the NUEL website.
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.
