ESL One tournaments – Best ESL games in the UK and beyond

ESL One tournaments are some of the biggest competitive gaming tournaments in the world. Whether you’ve been to the likes of the ESL One Birmingham in the UK, or have watched the ESL One New York from the UK via Twitch, or have been wagering for some ESL Betting, we can all agree that these contests always deliver the goods.

But what are ESL One tournaments and how did these competitive gaming competitions grow to be such key players in the esports scene? Our guide to ESL One tournaments in the UK will tell you all about the growth of this competition, and we will explain why these gaming extravaganzas should always be factored into your esports betting.

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The rise of ESL One tournaments in the UK and the rest of the world

ESL are well known as being perhaps the largest and oldest esports organisation in the world. Since the German gaming brand was launched in 1996, they have developed some big-name competitive gaming tournaments. These include the likes of the Intel Extreme Masters, the ESL Pro League, and of course the ESL One tournaments.

The ESL One tournaments have long been known as being fantastic places to see the very best in pro gaming. Things really came to a head in 2015 when it was revealed that the ESL One Cologne event had been watched online by well over 27 million viewers.

But ESL One has also found great success in taking their tournaments all over the world. From the likes of Manila in the Philippines, to Belo Horizonte in Brazil, ESL One has become the touchstone for what you should expect from competitive gaming. Of course it wasn’t long before the UK took notice, and the success of ESL One Birmingham in the UK revealed that this nation is a new hotspot for competitive gaming UK.

ESL One Tournaments
© ESL Gaming

What kinds of ESL betting games do these tournaments in the UK feature?

Whilst other esports tournaments focus on particular game, ESL One events feature some of the most popular esports. From legendary battle arena titles like Dota 2, to famous first-person shooters such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, if a game is featured at ESL One, then you know it’s a world-beater.

However, ESL One contests have also been known to pay attention to lesser-seen esports such as Battlefield 4. But all of the matches are carried out in offline tournaments and only feature teams of quality pro gamers.

A look at ESL One Cologne, ESL One Birmingham and ESL One New York contests

As ESL are Cologne-based company, it’s little surprise that their ESL One Cologne contests should get plenty of attention. Many gamers have watched ESL One Cologne from the UK, and the 2018 edition of this contest saw 16 of the best CSGO teams from around the world competing to take a share of the $300,000 prize pool.

The UK has also seen its share of ESL One action. The ESL One Birmingham in the UK event in 2018 was a massive hit and it was the first time a Dota 2 Major had ever taken place in the country. The contest saw Virtus.pro dominate OpTic Gaming in the final to get a healthy share of the $1 million prize winnings, and such was the success of the tournament that it returned to Birmingham in 2019.

Even the USA has fallen under the spell of ESL One competitions. The ESL One New York event has become a fixture on the American esports scene over the past few years. Recently we’ve seen tournament-winning performances from the likes of Mousesports and they used this event to show the world that they are new Counter-Strike superpower.

ESL One Cologne
© ESL Gaming

What about the ESL Pro League in the UK and elsewhere?

We can’t talk about ESL One without mentioning one of its sister tournaments – the ESL Pro League. This is a fantastic place to see some of the world’s best CSGO players in action. The contest features over 20 teams from North America and Europe and it has given the likes of Astralis and Fnatic the chance to show that they are kings of this classic first-person shooter.

The ESL Pro League has only been around since 2014. But since then it has raised its prize pool to $1 million for the finals and included tournament locations as far-ranging as Cologne, London, Dallas and Odense