How to Qualify for the EMEA VALORANT Regional Leagues!

Jan 24, 2022

Recently, we detailed the changes coming to the VALORANT esports EMEA in 2022, including the introduction of eight VALORANT Regional Leagues: VRL DACH, Türkiye, CIS, France, MENA, Northern Europe, Spain and East. These VRLs form the bedrock of our VALORANT EMEA esports ecosystem, and we’re excited to watch them showcase the vibrancy and spirit of the countries they represent.

Every VRL regular season will start the week of February 14, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. With regional open qualifiers set to begin, it’s time to dig into the dates and formats we’re using to determine the competitors in each VRL regular season.

VRL DACH: Evolution — Operated by Freaks 4U Gaming

The VRL that covers teams from Germany, Austria and Switzerland will feature an open qualifier that runs from Jan 24 - 30.

The open qualifier is a double elimination, best-of-three bracket capped at 128 teams. If more than 128 teams sign up to the open qualifier, a best-of-one round will be implemented prior to the 128-team bracket. The top eight teams from the open qualifier will advance to the VRL regular season tournament.

You can follow VRL DACH: Evolution on Twitter for the latest news and competition highlights.

VRL Türkiye: Birlik — Operated by ESA Esports

Turkey’s VRL will host its open and closed qualifiers from Jan 25 - 31. More specifically, there will be two open qualifiers (Jan 25 - 26) held before one closed qualifier (Jan 27 - 31) that will determine admittance into the VRL.

Each open qualifier will be played as best-of-ones, switching to best-of-threes for the final sixteen teams for the 1st open qualifier and for the final eight teams for the 2nd open qualifier. The eight best-of-three winners from the first open qualifier and the four best-of-three winners from the second open qualifier will advance to the closed qualifier, meeting four directly invited teams(2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th seed VCT Qualifiers 2) to fill out the 16-team field.

In the VRL Turkey closed qualifiers, 16 teams will be divided into 4 groups of 4 teams and will compete against each other in a best-of-three format. A total of 8 teams that take the first 2 places in each group will be eligible to compete in the VRL Turkey: Birlik league.

You can follow VRL Türkiye: Birlik on Twitter for the latest news and competition highlights.

VRL CIS: Milestone — Operated by GIG Me

The VRL for the Commonwealth of Independent States will conduct open and closed qualifiers from Jan 26 - 30.

Capped at 256 teams, the open qualifiers will be a single elimination, best-of-three bracket, with the top four teams advancing to the closed qualifier. In the closed qualifier, four directly invited teams based on VCT Qualifier results will join the four open qualifier teams as they vie for admission into the VRL.

During the closed qualifier, teams will compete in an abbreviated double elimination, best-of-three tournament. Because the top four teams advance to the VRL, only the first two rounds of the upper bracket and lower bracket will be played.

You can follow VRL CIS: Milestone on VK for the latest news and competition highlights.

VRL France: Révolution — Operated by Freaks 4U Gaming

France’s VRL will hold its open qualifier from Jan 26 - 30 — a single elimination, best-of-three bracket capped at 128 teams. If more than 128 teams sign up to the open qualifier, a best-of-one round will be inserted ahead of the 128-team bracket.

The top two teams from the open qualifier will advance to the VRL France regular season. There, they’ll meet six directly invited teams as they battle to represent their region at the EMEA Promotion Tournament.

You can follow VRL France: Révolution on Twitter for the latest news and competition highlights.

VRL MENA: Resilience — Operated by Calyx Gaming

The MENA region will host its VRL open qualifiers from Jan 26 - 31. Due to its size, MENA has been split into two sub-regions:

- Sub-Region #1 - Gulf Cooperation Council + Iraq

- Sub-Region #2 - Levant and North Africa

The sub-regions will conduct their own open qualifiers, broken into two stages. Stage 1 begins with 64 teams placed in eight groups of eight. All groups will then play a single round robin, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the next stage of the open qualifier.

Stage 2 places the remaining 16 teams in a single elimination, best-of-three bracket, with the top group seeds drawn against second seeds from other groups. The top four teams in this bracket qualify for the VRL MENA — a total of eight teams, four from each sub-region.

You can follow VRL MENA: Resilience on Twitter for the latest news and competition highlights.

VRL Northern Europe: Polaris — Operated by Promod Esports

VRL Northern Europe — a league that accounts for Scandinavia, Ireland and the United Kingdom — will hold its open and closed qualifiers on Jan 26 - 30.

Teams will begin the open qualifier in a single elimination, best-of-three tournament. The winners of that round will advance to the closed qualifier, a 16-team double elimination tournament featuring best-of three matches. Then, the top eight teams in the closed qualifier will advance to the VRL Northern Europe regular season. In determining those eight VRL teams, only the first two rounds of the closed qualifier’s upper bracket and lower bracket will be played.

You can follow VRL Northern Europe: Polaris on Twitter for the latest news and competition highlights.

VRL Spain: Rising x Mediamarkt e Intel — Operated by LVP

Spain’s 10-team VRL regular season has only one dedicated slot for a qualifier team — the other nine slots will be filled by direct invitees. Teams will compete for that lone slot during a set of open and closed qualifiers from Jan 26 - 31.

In the open qualifier (Jan 26 - 27), teams will funnel through a single elimination, best-of-one bracket, shifting to best-of-threes in the Round of 64. The top four teams will advance from to the closed qualifier (Jan 26 - 31), joining four directly invited teams in a single elimination, best-of-three bracket. The winner of this bracket will qualify for VRL Spain.

You can follow VRL Spain: Rising Mediamarkt e Intel on Twitter for the latest news and competition highlights.

VRL East: Surge — Operated by FRENZY

VRL East, an expansive region encompassing Poland, Romania, Greece, Hungary and the Czech Republic, will invite one team from each of those five countries directly into the regular season.

The remaining three slots will be filled by three open qualifiers held on Jan 24 - 28. The winners of each double elimination, best-of-three bracket will book their ticket to VRL East.

You can follow VRL East: Surge on Twitter for the latest news and competition highlights.