Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s esports teams at the inaugural European Games Esports Championships picked up two silver medals in Katowice, Poland this weekend.
The UK Williams Resolve Rocket League team were representing Great Britain, as was Welsh player Cerith Dennis in the eFootball Open and Northern Ireland’s Emzii in the women’s eFootball tournament.
The Rocket League team picked up a silver medal, as did Emzii, making Great Britain the most awarded team at the European Games Esports Championship.
Mark Weller, Great Britain and Northern Ireland Team Manager, described it as ‘our most successful campaign yet’ and gave a shoutout to the 2023 team:
???????? Most awarded team at @The_EOC @GE_Federation #EuropeanGames ???????? with 2 silvers for Great Britain ???????? and our most successful campaign yet.
— Mark Weller ????️???? (@Markantweller) July 2, 2023
A shout out to our entire '23 squad, you've done yourselves proud and made history along the way ???? pic.twitter.com/PU5CgjrTma
Mark added: “[performance advisor] AJ Davies you’ve been an absolute pleasure and professional to work with, Cerith Dennis an absolute rock in helping us secure an efootball silver and [head of creative] Jiggi_GG (aka Jonas Kontautas) as always.”
AJ Davies and Jonas also work with British Esports, who, as a member federation of the Global Esports Federation, were responsible for the selection and participation of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the first ever European Olympic-sanctioned esports competition.
The European Games Esports Championships ran from June 30th to July 2nd 2023 at the GEF_Arena, International Congress Centre (MCK), Katowice. It came after we recently wrote about the GB players at the European Games Esports Championships in a separate article.
The #EGE23 event ran alongside the third European Games, with 100 athletes from 28 countries across Europe participating.
Emzii, who was also a gold medallist from the Commonwealth Esports Championships last year, apologised for losing in the final but said ‘second place ain’t bad’.
No need to apologise, Emz!
Sorry everyone! No gold this time!
— Emzii ????️⚧️ REPRESENTING TEAM GB ???????? #EGE23 (@Emzii192) July 2, 2023
But hey second place ain't bad right ?
???? https://t.co/IVOmEnE45q
The Great Britain Rocket League team finished second in Group B, with three wins and one loss, and went on to beat Hungary 3-1 in the playoffs, before losing 3-0 to Netherlands and falling into the lower bracket.
There, they defeated Hungary again 3-0 before falling to Netherlands 4-0 in the grand final.
Cerith Dennis had a tough start in the eFootball open, unfortunately, and was knocked out in the group stage.
All in all, it was a positive performance from Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with two silvers secured.
Poland’s President talks at European Games Esports Championships opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the European Games Esports Championships took place on Friday evening at the GEF_Arena, with those in attendance including President of the European Olympic Committees, Spyros Capralos; Minister of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland, Kamil Bortniczuk; Honorary President of the Polish Olympic Committee, Andrzej Kraśnicki; Deputy Chair of the Management Board of Metropolis GZM, Henryk Borczyk; Deputy Mayor of Katowice, Waldemar Bojarun; Chair of the EOC Coordination Commission for the third European Games, Hasan Arat, and Chief Executive Officer of GEF, Paul J. Foster.
“I was born and raised in Krakow, the capital city of the European Games, and in a certain sense, the Polish capital of sports,” said President Duda. “However, it was Katowice that was the host of the first great Polish gaming event, back in the 1990s. Thousands of young people came to the Games Fair, to see cutting-edge technology.
“Esports is a sports discipline today, accompanied by all the Olympic ideals. Fair play, integrity and noble competition of young people. I wish all the best to all the participants. From Katowice, a message is sent all over the world, that the games are open, and they’re going to last.”
Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland
Paul J. Foster, CEO, Global Esports Federation, added on the European Games Esports Championships: “Today is a historic day for esports and sport and our #worldconnected community.
“It signals the coming together of people across Europe, bridging tradition and innovation while looking ahead to the dynamic opportunities of a brighter future, together. The European Games Esports Championships were co-created from an inspiring strategic partnership between the Global Esports Federation and the visionary leadership of the European Olympic Committees.”
Honorary President of the Polish Olympic Committee, Andrzej Kraśnicki, said: “It is this moment that I should address the dear friends of esports. We all have esports in our hearts, and we welcome you to Katowice, the capital city of esports in Poland. When we heard the decision of the EOC and GEF, we decided to immediately agree to organize it here, in Katowice. We are very open to the community and grassroots initiatives. We are looking forward to some fantastic days.”
President of the European Olympic Committees (EOC), Spyros Capralos, commented on the European Games Esports Championships too, saying: “Today is a very exciting day for the EOC, for gamers, for sport, for Poland. And it is an exciting day for me too. This is the first time the EOC has hosted an event like this. We are curious to see how it works in a social context, and in the context of a multisport games. Curiosity drives us to learn. It drives us to explore the boundaries of mental and physical performance.
“Athletes, I echo my words from the opening ceremony of the European Games, with a reminder of Olympic values, which are universal values. We look forward to the excellence you will show in the following days.”
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.
