The Esports Nations Cup is beginning to clarify the qualification pathway for its
VALORANT tournament. According to the Rulebook, part of the qualification system will be based on the ENC Ranking, with
several nations earning a direct place through the points accumulated by their players across regional and international
VALORANT Champions Tour competitions. For each nation, the total score will be calculated from the five highest-scoring players included in the submitted roster, giving a significant advantage to countries that already have several players established at the highest level.
The top 16 teams in the ranking will therefore receive direct invitations before waiting to learn which additional national teams will join them through the regional qualifiers. These teams, qualified through the ranking, will therefore enter the competition with a different status, as they will not need to go through the regional qualifiers and will instead wait for their future opponents to emerge.
According to
TESFED, the Turkish Esports Federation, which shared the communication plan, the schedule has been set by the Esports Foundation for all participating teams.
For VALORANT, the registration window will run from June 15 to June 25. Alongside these sixteen direct invitations,
14 teams will qualify through the online regional tournaments, while the
final two places will be awarded through Wildcards.
Qualifier format and slots per region
The Regional Qualifier will be played in a double-elimination format, with matches contested in either Bo1 or Bo3, depending on the stage of the competition. The ENC Ranking will primarily determine seeding: teams already present in the ranking will be placed according to their current position, with higher-ranked teams receiving higher seeds. Teams not included in the ranking will not be manually assessed or positioned. Instead, they will be assigned to the remaining open seed slots through a random draw, ensuring a fair and unbiased distribution.
- North America: 2 qualifying slots.
- South America: 2 qualifying slots.
- Europe West: 2 qualifying slots.
- Middle East and North Africa: 1 qualifying slot.
- Sub-Saharan Africa: 1 qualifying slot.
- Asia: 2 qualifying slots.
- Southeast Asia and Oceania: 2 qualifying slots.
How will the qualifier work
The regional qualifiers will take place from June 26 to June 28 and will allow several regions to send their representatives to the final stage of the Esports Nations Cup. According to the official organization, Asia, East Europe, West Europe, and North America will each have two qualifying slots. The Middle East and Africa, meanwhile, appear with one available slot in the qualifier published by the ENC. However, the rulebook separates country assignments between the Middle East and North Africa region and the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
Find out in the rest of this article which region each country will compete in for its qualifier.
- Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, China, India, Japan, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka.
- Europe East: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine.
- Europe West: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
- Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen.
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
- North America: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Venezuela, British Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands.
- South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay.
- Southeast Asia & Oceania: American Samoa, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Indonesia, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam.
