Parimatch has strengthened its foothold in esports via a partnership with the Ukrainian Esports Federation (UESF), ahead of an upcoming Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and Dota 2 championship.
The UESF Parimatch Championship of Ukraine will commence on July 17, beginning with an online segment which will conclude on 3 October, whilst the Grand Final will take place in Kyiv’s WePlay Esports Arena in mid-October 2021.
Matches will be televised with the support of the Megogo media service, with a total prize fund of UAH 1,000,000 to be divided between the competition winners.
In addition to a collection of game devices, monitors and game PCs, worth a total value of UAH 250,000, will be divided among tournament spectators and UESF subscribers on social media networks.
Parimatch has established a strong presence in esports over the past year, maintaining partnerships with CS;GO and Dota 2 competitor Team Spirit and popular Brazilian professional gamer ‘Coldzera’, as well as supporting amateur grassroots esports tournaments, organising its own professional competitions and releasing social media content for fans.
The operator’s latest tournament collaboration with UESF will begin with an opening qualifying round, which will see Best of One (BO1) matches take place in a round-robin format, with the total number of registered competing teams divided into 16 groups.
In the following qualifying round, matches will be played using the same BO1 round-robin system, and the results of the first stage will determine which teams will be invited into the four groups, with 16 teams participating in each.
Once arriving at the final qualifying stage, successful teams will compete in a Best of Two (BO2) round-robin format consisting of two leagues – League A and League B – with the teams that took the first six places in groups A and B competing in the former and the top six teams from groups C and D competing in the latter.
Additionally, an extra four teams will compete in the final qualifying round, invited by the UESF, with two teams participating in each league.
The semi-finals will consist of playoffs in both League A and B, again using a BO2 round-robin formula, with the teams occupying the first six places in each respective league joining this stage, in addition to another four teams invited by the UESF.
Concluding the tournament, the final – known as the ‘Super Playoffs’ – will see the top four finishing teams from both leagues compete across a double-elimination round on a Best of Three basis.