BTC: $ 107516.17 (0.29%)
ETH: $ 2524.11 (0.05%)
LTC: $ 95.48 (0.53%)
DOGE: $ 0.2243 (-0.14%)
Share
A multi-game competition featuring large stakes and regional stars, it is a fantastic way to go beyond the tried-and-true events, both as a fan and an enterprising bettor.
As the esports calendar continues to rumble on, there are many different exciting events worth keeping an eye on. Some of these are not like the others – and this is where the Asian Champions League comes in.
While these events may have fallen under the radar of the regular esports fan, it is a super important competition in the big scheme of competitive gaming – this is because the winner qualifies for this year's Esports World Cup, which is a humongous competition in its own right!
Here is everything you need to know about the Asian Champions League and its two upcoming events, the CS2 and the Dota 2 competitions.
Abbreviated as ACL 2025, branded as HERO ESPORTS Asian Champions League 2025, this multi-game competition serves as Asian teams' pathway to the Esports World Cup. Depending on the game in question, the event may be exclusive to Chinese teams only or available to a wider selection of teams in the region.
With a $2 million total prize pool across the various esports disciplines, the event truly lives up to its tagline – "Creating the Impossible." Managed under the auspices of Asia's biggest esports company, HERO ESPORTS, formerly known as VSPO, the scale and ambitions of the project are both really rather massive, making for huge stakes for esports competitors of the continent. The company received a $265m investment from Savvy Games Group, the Saudi Arabian government's investment via its Public Investment Fund (PIF), leading to this pathway to the Esports World Cup and the obvious collaboration.
Tantalizingly enough, this includes games where the regional teams are among the world's best and also a few where it serves as an outsized opportunity for tier-2 and tier-3 squads to make their mark on the Esports World Cup Stage, making for some truly heart-pounding action.
Heading into May, the next two events of the Asian Champions League will feature some of the biggest esports in the world – Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2. But that is not all the ACL has to offer to enterprising fans. The finals of each game-specific competition will take place during the following time periods in chronological order:
Honor of Kings: May 5-May18
Counter-Strike 2: May 6-May 16
Teamfight Tactics: May 8-May 18
VALORANT: May 14-May 18
CrossFire: May 16-May 17
Street Fighter 6: May 16-May 18
League of Legends: May 17
Delta Force: May 17-May 18
The grand finals of this interdisciplinary esports event will take place between May 16 and May 18, bringing all the stars of each of the games involved into one of three prestigious venues to create a special broadcast experience. Per Esports Insider's reporting and an associated press release, each venue will be located in Shanghai, and they will be the following:
In a press release, the CEO of the competition stated that "Shanghai's selection as our host city reflects its unmatched esports infrastructure and passionate community," adding that "by combining elite competition with DreamHack's festival energy, we're creating a new blueprint for global esports events." The DreamHack namedrop is no accident: the event is partnered with the prestigious tournament organizer.
The Esports World Cup has become a huge and somewhat controversial part of the competitive gaming landscape, an unmissable multi-game affair in Riyadh that pits the greatest esports orgs against one another in all popular titles in separate tournaments. In terms of scale and prize pool, it is hard to name many other events that rival it at the time of writing.
Formerly known as Gamers8, the Esports World Cup features 21 different games from CoD to StarCraft and even choices as exotic as chess, with a humongous $70.45 million total prize pool to be distributed across the competition between the players and their orgs. The overall winners will take home a mammoth $7 million prize.
Per Liquipedia's Esports World Cup page, "Each game has its own independent structure for qualifying, but the championship series for each title forms part of the Esports World Cup. Alongside the competitions in the games, there is a Club Competition across all games for participating organizations." 40 esports orgs are involved with EWC's Club Program, and over 60 are confirmed to participate in the event in some way.
The 2025 Esports World Cup will take place between June 30 and August 24, so it's high time to determine which teams will qualify.
The Counter-Strike 2 event of the Asian Champions League features eight teams in a modern, skill-testing tournament format. Two double-elimination groups with best-of-three matches throughout (which is essentially the equivalent of a GSL-style stage) serve as the main course, with each group winner qualifying for the grand final and the second-place finishers progressing to the third-place decider for the competition.
Four teams were directly invited based on their Valve Regional Standings position, and four earned their spots in the closed qualifiers. They are as follows:
FlyQuest
(INS, Liazz, Vexite, regali, nettik)
#3 in the February 25 VRS standings
Lynn Vision
(westmelon, z4kr, EmiliaQAQ, Starry, C4LLM3SU3)
#5 in the February 25 VRS standings
The Huns Esports
(nin9, Bart4k, cobrazera, yAmi, xerolte)
#6 in the February 25 VRS standings
TYLOO
(JamYoung, Moseyuh, Mercury, Jee, Attacker)
#7 in the February 25 VRS standings
Rare Atom
(somebody, Summer, L1haNg, ChildKing, kaze)
Qualified via the closed qualifier
JiJieHao
(m1N1, ISSAA, bibu, BOROS, 0SAMAS)
Qualified via the closed qualifier
Chinggis Warriors
(controlez, ariucle, ROUX, efire, cool4st)
Qualified via the closed qualifier
Nomads
(hoolig4n, HenX, CRYTICAL, Paranormal, clouden)
Qualified via the closed qualifier
Here are the groups for the competition, courtesy of Liquipedia:
And the opening matchups are as follows:
Compared to its CS2 counterpart (or some of the other events in the finals), the Dota 2 ACL competition is a relatively reserved affair, with four teams qualifying for the ultimate showdown out of the eight that participate in the ACL X ESL Challenger China qualifier. As an added bit of spice, the top two will also make it to DreamLeague Season 26 as a bonus, so it serves as a double qualifier of sorts.
The Challenger event pits all eight teams against one another in one double-elimination bracket, where the opening round is best-of-one games, the rest are best-of-three affairs, and the grand final is a best-of-five barnburner. This event also distributes a $100,000 prize pool, entirely separately from the Champions League grand final to follow.
That's right: the top four of ACL X ESL Challenger China will make it to the ACL Grand Finals, which will feature a single-elimination bracket with best-of-three semis and a best-of-five final. The winner will take home $100,000 and punch their ticket to the Esports World Cup.
Here are the teams and players involved:
Xtreme Gaming
(Ame, Xm, Xxs, XinQ, Poloson (stand-in))
Directly invited to the event
Yakult Brothers
(flyfly, Emo, Pyw, Oli, Zeal (stand-in))
Directly invited to the event
Team Tidebound
(Shiro, NothingToSay, Bach, Planet, y')
Directly invited to the event
Fate's Edge
(Lou, han, Beyond, BoBoKa, Undyne)
Directly invited to the event
ToLight Team
(L'enfer, c'est les autres, V, Nemesis, bobo, xiN)
Open qualifier winners
Tearlaments
(YSR-04E, Echo, Srf, 7e, zzq)
Open qualifier winners
Excel Esports
(Manic, ButterflyEffect, as ss, CatYou, RedPanda)
Open qualifier winners
Future Gaming
(Chidori, pp, Irving, Xu., rayy)
Open qualifier winners
Ultimately, the Asian Champions League esports event, or ACL for short (perhaps an unfortunate name choice considering, you know, the football competition with the exact same name), serves as a prestigious event in its own right, but it really is mainly important because of the pathway it provides to the continent's best and brightest to the upcoming Esports World Cup.
The ACL will feature eight different esports titles, with each grand final taking place over a three-day period in one of Shanghai's prestigious convention venues. The most important events are the CS2 and Dota events, which feature eight and four teams, respectively.
Be sure to follow the action on Bitsler and keep an eye out for all things esports on the Bitsler blog!
Esports
May 19, 2025
Stewie2K player profile: The story of The Smoke Criminal
Esports
May 16, 2025
A new cycle begins – IEM Dallas CS2 preview
Esports
April 23, 2025
What is the best Dota 2 esports crypto betting site?
Esports
April 17, 2025
Fourth time's the charm for Dota 2 esports – PGL Wallachia Season 4 preview
Esports
April 17, 2025
They come to a land Down Under: IEM Melbourne 2025 is bringing all the CS2 hype
Esports
April 04, 2025
PGL Bucharest: the action heats up as the top teams start to show up
Bitsler Welcome Bonus Celebration with VIP Treats, Free Spins, and Referral Rewards!
Counter-Strike CSGO ranks, explained
How to deposit with a crypto casino, explained
What is CSGO Stash (and why has it been renamed to CS2 Stash)?
What is CSGO Roll? Explained
Who are the richest players in the world with the most esports earnings?
Everything you need to know about CSGO crosshair in Counter-Strike 2
The future of gaming is here, we are the number one bitcoin casino. Our range of casino-slots consistently make the top ten across the bitcoin casino world. Bitcoin gambling has seen a rise in popularity through 2017 and 2018, we are at the forefront of cryptocurrency gaming, providing a fun, fast and fair experience for the bitcoin gambling enthusiast.
