ESL bans participation of multiple teams owned by a single esports organization

With ESL One Cologne few months away from us and with qualifiers happening next week, the Esports tournaments giant released a new rule that will end the journey of many teams before it even starts.

Number of academy teams were registered for the European qualifiers—but ESL has now said those teams will not be eligible for the event. An announcement today makes it very clear that each organization is granted just one license per tournament, which includes qualifiers.

For Fnatic Academy, that immediately rules them out of the ESL One Cologne qualifiers as Fnatic are directly invited to the event. Fnatic Academy have had some success in the past six months, finishing in the top six at DreamHack Leipzig and reaching the final of some smaller tournaments. Gambit Academy could fall for the same rule, as well as PENTA Sports’ academy team.

The rule on academy teams can only be circumvented if the organization provides written confirmation that, should the team qualify for the event itself, they will sell or release the team before the tournament.

The rule however does not address multiple ownership of teams where the “legal entities” of the teams are separate. That means that Virtus Pro, Natus Vincere, and SK Gaming—all of which have a financial or ownership relationship with ESForce Holdings—will still be allowed to compete in ESL events.