With the event fast approaching and the first national teams already announced on
Rainbow Six Siege, the Esports Foundation continues to reveal new details surrounding its
Esports Nations Cup. For its inaugural edition, set to take place next November in Riyadh, 16 games will be featured, each with a different number of participants, but fairly similar invitation and qualification systems.
One of those aspects was recently clarified by the EF, the organization in charge of the ENC, as it revealed how the wildcard system will operate. For every title at the event except
Counter-Strike, alongside invited teams, often making up half of the participants, and another large portion qualifying through continental qualifiers, the Saudi organizer had also introduced several slots designated as Wildcards.
CS2, meanwhile, will be entirely qualifier-based, making it the only exception.
Depending on the title, between two and three spots were often labeled as “
Wildcards.” However, with Tuesday, May 26’s announcement, the Esports Foundation provided a more in-depth explanation of the system, introducing three different formats depending on the game and the state of its competitive scene. Across the 15 games excluding
CS, there will be at least one “Solidarity Slot,” and up to two for
Chess, Rocket League, and
EA SPORTS FC. These are described by the organization as
“performance-based opportunities created for countries and territories that may not yet have large esports ecosystems or consistent international representation.”
It therefore offers smaller countries, whether in size or simply in terms of their esports scene, that may have failed to qualify through the standard process, an opportunity to secure one of these additional spots. National representatives in charge of each delegation will reportedly be able to apply for one of these places “in their strongest game.” Naturally, these applications will only open after the qualification stages, and “will be reviewed based on competitive strength and regional representation before final slots are awarded.”
Two other options
Then, for eight of the games, including
League of Legends and
VALORANT, another Wildcard slot will be allocated to countries from the Gulf Cooperation Council under the name “Host Region Slot,” meaning it will not be exclusive to Saudi Arabia as the host nation. This slot will be available to one GCC country among Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, and “
are designed to ensure local representation at the event.” To determine which nation receives the slot, the organization explained that “
the highest-performing GCC country or territory that has not already qualified through standard pathways will receive the slot.”
Finally, and only for four specific games, EA Sports FC, PUBG Mobile, Honor of Kings, and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, between one and five “Special Invites” will be implemented. Unlike the other options, “these invitations are not performance-based and are only applied in select titles under specific circumstances defined alongside game partners.” A special system put in place for countries “where technical, ecosystem, or operational limitations make traditional qualification difficult.”
