The 32 countries set to compete at the Overwatch World Cup have now been allocated eight groups spread across the four regions. Each group of four is set to play a round-robin of matches, and the top two teams will play in the first round of the single-elimination playoffs for that region. The two winners from each region will make the final eight which will compete at the World Cup at BlizzCon.
There will be four events held worldwide. The first, from 14th-16th July will be in China. The second, from 21st – 23rd July will be in Australia with the third in Poland from 4th – 6th August. Finally, from the 11th -13th August the U.S. event will be held. It will culminate in Anaheim, USA during BlizzCon in early November.
The top eight seeds for the event are as follows:
- China
- South Korea
- USA
- Sweden
- Finland
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- France
It’s interesting to see the UK featuring so prominently in the seeding, considering the other countries in the top eight all have considerable esports pedigree across CS:GO, Dota 2 and League of Legends. It’s clear the UK talent in this case is significantly closer to the top than in other big esports titles. The UK will be joined in Group H by Germany (11th seed), Israel (22nd seed) and Belgium (27th seed).
The UK roster is as follows:
- Christopher “ChrisTFer” Graham, Hammers Esports, Tank;
- Harrison “Kruise” Pond, eUnited, Offence;
- Eoghan “Smex” O’Neill, You guys get paid?, Flex;
- Michael “MikeyA” Adams, Ninjas with Attitude, Offence;
- Isaac “Boombox” Charles, eUnited, Support;
- Marcus “Realzx” Vining, Ninjas with Attitude, Support.
All of the above players compete in the Overwatch Contenders, amongst big names such as Team Liquid, Counter Logic Gaming, FaZe Clan, Cloud9 and plenty more. It’s the tier below the Overwatch League and thus it’s clear that the UK clearly has some well respected players in the Blizzard title.
Esports Insider says: We’re going to treat the UK versus Germany rivalry as if it was football (please no penalties). Whilst Belgium may have Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku in the footballing world, we have Smex and Boombox in the Overwatch world. Watch out, the UK is coming. National anthem and flags at the ready.