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ESL Challenger League Season 47 will be getting underway in early 2024, and ESL Faceit Group (EFG) has revealed more details around the tournament.
The season will take place online from February 13th to June 9th 2024, offering aspiring, semi-prof and pro squads the opportunity to finetune their skills against other teams from their region and secure a spot in ESL Pro League Season 20.
Featuring 80 teams from five different regions, ECL Season 47 introduces the online league to South America and Australia and New Zealand, while continuing to provide a pathway for teams from Europe, North America and Asia. The full breakdown of the format, and slot and $100,000 prize pool distribution for Europe, as well as details on the ECL Relegations, can be found below.
ESL Challenger League Season 47 – Europe format
Featuring 24 teams, the EU region will have the following format below.
The teams competing in ESL Challenger League Season 47 Europe will be known once ECL Season 46 and the relegations thereafter have concluded on December 17th 2023.
In terms of UK talent, UK player Gizmy from The Prodigies could be playing if they remain up from Season 46. And this current season also features UK talent SneakyBeaky, Ne0kai and Skriv, as well as Dutch talent Vearless.
Group Stage 1
24 teams will be divided in four groups of six and battle it out against one another in a single round-robin format with best-of-three matches.
The top two squads of each group proceed to Group Stage 2 High, the third and fourth placed teams advance to Group Stage 2 Mid, and the final two teams make their way to Group Stage 2 Low.
Group Stage 2
Competing in best-of-three, double-elimination matches, the 24 teams will be divided in three groups of eight, based on their performance in Group Stage 1. Each Group Stage 2 group will see the following progression:
- Group High: The top two teams advance to the Playoffs’ Upper-Bracket (UB) Round-of-four (Ro4); the third till sixth placed teams proceed to the Playoffs’ UB Ro8; and the two last placed teams continue their battle in the Playoffs’ Lower-Bracket (LB) Round 1.
- Group Mid: The top two teams make their way to the Playoffs’ LB Round 1, while the remaining six teams will continue their ECL journey in the next season.
- Group Low: The top two teams will return in the next ECL season; the third till sixth placed teams will compete for their spot in the next ECL season in the ECL relegations (more information below); and the two last-placed squads will be relegated to the ESEA League Advanced division.
Playoffs
The Group Stage 2 High teams, as well as the top two of Group Mid, proceed to a double-elimination bracket with best-of-three matches. The two best teams advance to the best-of-five Grand Final, with the team coming from the Upper-Bracket taking a 1-0 lead.
Furthermore, both the winner and the runner-up will secure a spot in ESL Pro League Season 20.
ESL Challenger League Season 47 – Europe prize pool
The EU region features a $100,000 total prize pool:
ESL Challenger League Relegations
Commencing in 2024, the promotion from a region’s highest ESEA League division into ESL Challenger League will follow a point-based system with each ESEA League season awarding points to participating teams based on their placement during that season.
The winners of the two seasons feeding into the first next ECL season, directly qualify for that respective season in their region – the winners of ESEA League Season 48 and 49 Europe claim a direct spot in ECL Season 48 Europe. The first til seventh teams with the most points will qualify for the ECL Relegations.
These relegations will have the following format for Europe:
Stage 1
Eight teams (the third to seventh teams with the most points amassed from the two corresponding ESEA League seasons, the 21st and 22nd placed team of the previous ECL season, and one possible team invited based on its position in the ESL World Ranking) compete against each other in a double-elimination bracket. The top four proceed to the next phase.
Stage 2
Eight teams (the first and second teams with the most points amassed from the two corresponding ESEA League seasons, the 19th and 20th placed team of the previous ECL season, and four teams coming from Stage 1) face each other in a double-elimination bracket with the top four qualifying for the next ESL Challenger League season.
There’s more detailed info on Season 47 on the EFG 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.
