The Equal eSports Cup is a League of Legends tournament series for women and non-binary players. The final of the Cup will be held offline in September at the Equal eSports Festival 2023 in Cologne, Germany.
The Equal eSports Cup is a joint movement of the DACH esports scene and was initiated by RIOT, Deutsche Telekom, SK Gaming, and the esports player foundation (epf). Its purpose is to provide women and non-binary players with a platform to showcase their skills and establish themselves in professional esports. In this sense, the EEC serves as a scouting ground for esports organizations to discover women and non-binary talents for future rosters.

In general, 12 women/non-binary teams are invited to participate in the Equal eSports Cup. These teams are submitted by established esports organizations, primarily from the DACH region. Most of these teams will form their cup roster from the applications received for the cup. Additionally, it was of utmost importance to us to be able to include those teams, too, that we have not been able to contact yet or that have only played privately so far. For this reason, all women/non-binary teams can register for the open qualifiers. By participating in the open qualifier, the top 4 teams qualify for the following closed qualifier, which ultimately can lead to participation in the offline finals.

The 12 invited teams are provided by established eSports organisations, primarily from the DACH region. They include: SK Avarosa, BIG Chroma, MOUZ, GamerLegion, Eintracht Frankfurt, Eintracht Spandau, E WIE EINFACH E-SPORTS, G2 Hel, French Bees (Vitality), KOI, Austrian Force willhaben and Team Orange Gaming. The following teams will draft a team from the Equal eSports Cup applications:
GamerLegion, MOUZ, Eintracht Spandau, Eintracht Frankfurt, E WIE EINFACH E-SPORTS, KOI, Austrian Force willhaben and TeamOrangeGaming.

Indeed you can! If you a) didn't manage to apply for one of the professional teams or if you b) prefer to play in your own team, you can register yourself or your team here. You are still missing a player? No problem! On our Discord server you can look for missing team members or join a searching team.

A total of 4 closed qualifiers will take place, each with 16 teams competing against each other. These 16 teams collect - depending on their ranking - points. After 4 held qualifiers, the top 4 teams that have collected the most points qualify for the big offline final at the Equal eSports Festival. Here, places 1-4 will be played in a best-of-three mode.
Since 16 teams compete per qualifier, but only 12 teams are invited, the 4 remaining spots will be awarded at the Open Qualifier on the day before the respective Closed Qualifier. Any women/ non-binary team can register for the Open Qualifiers, whether professional or private.
Of course you can watch the Closed Qualifiers as well as the big offline final via live stream. The broadcast takes place via the Twitch channel of the epf.

First of all, all talents have to verify themselves, so also those of the Invitational Teams. In addition to the common identification of the persons, we unfortunately also have to deal with the identification of the gender, because only women and non-binary persons are allowed to participate in the EEC. Of course, persons in the process of transition to women are also included.
The topic of gender identification is -understandably- for many people a very private and emotional matter. Therefore, the feel-good factor during the verification is very important to us. All participants are verified by an external agency that is specialized in our topic. The agency treats all players empathetically and with tact. However, we are prepared in case someone has unpleasant intentions. The Equal eSports Cup is and remains a safe space.
We do not want to explicitly go into the exact procedure in order not to create loopholes. All teams that register will of course be informed. It is simply a matter of avoiding people who would like to exploit our Cup.

A total of four qualifiers are held. 16 teams take part in each Qualifier. The 16 teams consist of 12 invitational teams and 4 variable teams, which can qualify the day before the closed qualifier at the open qualifier. The Open Qualifier is open to any team that has registered in time and has been verified by us.
The 16 teams of the Closed Qualifier will be drawn into one of four groups. The group phase will take place on day 1 of the Closed Qualifier. The first and second placed teams of each group will qualify for the deciding matches on day 2 of the Closed Qualifier. Said 8 teams will receive additional points to qualify for the finals at the Equal eSports Festival.
The qualifier system will repeat four times, after which the top 4 teams should be determined. In case of a tie, tie-breaks will be held.
Of course, you can follow all Closed Qualifiers in the live stream. The broadcast will take place via the Twitch channel of the epf.

First of all: While 12 Invitational teams are set for each Closed Qualifier, the Open Qualifiers will always start from scratch. That means: You have to register your team for every Qualifier, but you don't have to verify it again. However, this offers you the possibility to participate in the third or fourth Qualifier if you didn't have a team at one of the first Qualifiers or simply didn't have time. We agreed to this procedure to ensure that as many talents as possible can participate and to avoid no-shows. However, if you and your team are motivated, we would be very happy if you register for all four qualifiers.

Register your team for the Open Qualifier:
Our partner agency will then take care of the verification of your team.
Important: please always keep an eye on the deadline to register for the Open Qualifier! As a rough guideline you can remember "two weeks before the respective Open Qualifier".

Deadlines for registration:
Open Qualifier #1 26.05.23, 11:59 p.m.
Open Qualifier #2 18.06.23, 11:59 p.m.
Open Qualifier #3 16.07.23, 11:59 p.m.
Open Qualifier #4 20.08.23, 11:59 p.m.

When do the qualifiers take place and how many are there?
A total of 4 qualifiers will take place. Each of them consists of an Open Qualifier and a Closed Qualifier. Of course, you can follow the Closed Qualifier in the live stream. The broadcast will take place via the Twitch channel of the epf.

02.06.23 Open Qualifier #1
03.06.23 Closed Qualifier #1 Day 1 (Group Stage)
04.06.23 Closed Qualifier #1 Day 2 (Deciding matches for places 1-8)

30.06.23 Open Qualifier #2
01.07.23 Closed Qualifier #2 Day 1 (Group Stage)
02.07.23 Closed Qualifier #2 Day 2 (Deciding matches for places 1-8)

28.07.23 Open Qualifier #3
29.07.23 Closed Qualifier #3 Day 1 (Group Stage)
30.07.23 Closed Qualifier #3 Day 2 (Deciding matches for places 1-8)

01.09.23 Open Qualifier #4
02.09.23 Closed Qualifier #4 Day 1 (Group Stage)
03.09.23 Closed Qualifier #4 Day 2 (Deciding matches for places 1-8)

The Equal eSports Cup is a joint project of RIOT, epf and SK Gaming, sponsored by Deutsche Telekom.

First of all, the teams gain one thing above all: a stage for their skills, affiliation in a male-dominated pro player scene, notoriety and recognition. Apart from that, we have of course included prize money:

Closed Qualifier: (1.) 500€ (2.) 250€ (3.) 150€ (4.) 100€
Offline Final: (1.) 5000€ (2.) 2500€ (3.) 1750€ (4.) 750€

The winning team will also receive our first Equal eSports Cup trophy.

Closed Qualifier:
(1.) 1000 points / (2.) 500 points / (3.) 300 points / (4.) 250 points / (5.- 8.) 175 points / (9.- 16.) 100 points.

Website: https://www.equal-esports.com/events/equal-esports-cup
Discord: https://discord.gg/vxA6SeVfAP
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/esportsplayerfoundation
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EsportsPlayerF1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esports_player_foundation/

The Equal eSports Cup is part of the Equal eSports Initiative, which was launched by Telekom together with SK Gaming and the esports player foundation.
As the Equal eSports Cup reflects what the Equal eSports Initiative stands for, we decided to integrate the initiative in the name of the Cup.

You can find out more about the Equal eSports Initiative here.