The Path to Pro: Premier Esports in EMEA - Qualification and Regions

Dec 11, 2023

With 2024 fast approaching, today we want to go into further detail on what Premier Esports will look like for EMEA in 2024. As you may already know, VALORANT’s Premier system will be the gateway for teams who are looking to climb the ladder and qualify into Challengers and the VCT. Premier will offer our players a seamless path to pro from inside the game, unlocking another avenue for undiscovered talent to shine. 

From Split 2 onwards, Premier will be the sole method of promotion into VALORANT Challengers EMEA following May’s promotion/relegation. But for the start of 2024 (Split 1), VALORANT Regional Circuits (VRCs) and Premier will both promote teams into Challengers. Following this, VRCs will still exist, offering players the chance to develop and hone their skills at a grassroots level, but will no longer feed into VALORANT Challengers EMEA as they have previously. 

Before we dive further into the details, we wanted to remind you that to qualify into Challengers through Premier, you must reach Contender status, which is achieved through ranking Immortal 3 (with relative recency). If you have any further questions do check our detailed FAQ.

Premier Esports EMEA: Regions

Premier Esports EMEA will feature 7 different zones to qualify through, which are listed below alongside their respective gamepods that they are played on:

Countries within each zone reflect the countries covered within each Challengers League Territory, ensuring that teams that successfully promote through Premier can enter their respective Challengers League. This means that teams must compete on their respective gamepod to gain promotion through Premier into Challengers. 

Premier Esports EMEA: Eligibility requirements 

To be eligible to qualify into Challengers, all players must be at least 16 before being able to compete. Three of the five starting players must also be residents of your respective Premier Zone. A resident must be a citizen of a country in the Challengers League Territory or hold additional citizenship rights, be a lawful permanent resident, or hold other special status (e.g. refugee or asylum status).

In some regions, teams will need to have an incorporated entity to participate in Challengers. If a team successfully promotes into Challengers through Premier, they will have two weeks after promoting to finalise the process of creating an incorporated entity. 

All teams are responsible for ensuring they meet these requirements.

Premier Esports EMEA: Promotion / Relegation

Further information on the way that promotion and relegation between works in 2024 will be shared in the near future. Keep an eye out for all the details!