Counter-Strike Faceit hub and tournament organiser, the UK & Ireland Circuit (UKIC), has announced the UKIC League Season 0.
UKIC – which is run by UK esports organisation Endpoint – made the announcement yesterday evening.
The free-to-play UKIC League Season 0 will feature both open and university-level circuits.
Division 1 will feature a prize pool of £4,000+, while Division 2 will have £1,500+. Two qualifiers for these divisions will run from October 18th to 22nd, and then the group stages will each feature ten teams in a five-week round robin best-of-one.
Division 3 will have an open sign-up, with a maximum of ten teams per group, and there will be 300,000 Faceit points available to be earned.
For the collegiate arm of UKIC League Season 0, a qualifier will take place on October 14th, leading to a group stage with ten teams, a five-week round robin best-of-one and a £1,000 prize pool. Open groups will also allow teams to play and earn 300,000 Faceit points.
‘UKIC League is just the beginning of our plans’
The news was well-received by the community and comes a few weeks after the Counter-Strike ESL UK & Ireland Premiership (and other national leagues) were axed ‘following a change in the EFG global strategy’.
Endpoint CEO Adam Jessop commented: “This circuit is just the beginning of our plans and ambitions to build on our hub, making the UKIC a breeding ground for UK talent. GL HF!”
Endpoint co-owner Peter Thompson said: “Time to invest more into UKIC! Season 0 sets the land with the end of year LAN and more LAN events for multiple divisions coming from Season 1 in 2024.
“There’s no excuse not to either prove you are the best UK & Ireland CS has, grow your skills up the rankings, play for fun with friends and the community, or get involved and represent your uni! Hopefully catering to everyone that wants to play Counter-Strike!”
Peter Thompson, Endpoint / UKIC
Both Adam and Peter also gave a shoutout to Endpoint head events coordinator TJ ‘FFact’ Caffrey and UKIC League admin Finn, aka Mischief for their work on the UKIC League.
“A lot of work going into this behind the scenes and we are so lucky to have them both working with us to help deliver it,” Adam Jessop added.
Finn added: “UKIC and Endpoint managing to actually make this a reality has been exceptional. Taking a concept and actually turning it into something that could reshape the scene. So grateful for the opportunity to work on this.”
The first UK & Ireland Circuit CS LAN event is set to take place in December.
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.
