The Equal Esports Cup is a League of Legends tournament series for women and non-binary talent. The final of the cup will take place in August at Gamescom 2024 in Cologne. 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). The cup is intended to give women and non-binary players a platform to showcase their skills and establish themselves in professional Esports. In this sense, the EEC acts as a scouting ground for Esports organizations to discover more women and non-binary talent for future rosters.

8 women/non-binary teams are invited to the Equal Esports Cup. These teams are provided by established Esports organizations. In addition, it was very important to us to be able to include those teams that we have not yet been able to contact or who have only played privately. For this reason, all women/non-binary teams can also register for the Open Qualifiers. Each team, consisting of 5 players (women and non-binary individuals), has the opportunity to register for the Open Qualifier on May 17–18, 2025. The top 4 teams will qualify for the group stage, which begins on July 1, 2025.

The 8 invited teams are from established Esports organizations. They include f.e.: SK Avarosa, G2 Hel, Solary Académie, Galions Pearl and Vitality Rising Bees.

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.

The Open Qualifier on 17.05.2025 and 18.05.2025 will kick off the tournament, in which 4 teams can qualify for the group phase comprising 5 match days in addition to the teams already invited. The group stage begins with the first match day on 01.07.2025 and ends on 09.07.2025. The 3 best teams in each group qualify for the playoffs. The playoffs begin on 22.07.2025 with a double elimination format and end on 10.08.2025. The 2 best teams qualify for the Grand Final at gamescom You can of course follow the group stage and the Grand Final in the live stream. The broadcast will take place via the "equalesportsgg" Twitch channel.Twitch channel of the epf.

Initially, all talents, including those of Invitational Teams, have to get verified. Along with the standard identification process, gender identification is also required since only women, transgender women and non-binary individuals, are eligible to participate in the EEC. Gender identification is -understandably- a sensitive and personal topic for many, and therefore, we prioritize the feel-good factor of participants during the verification process. An external agency, DivE, specializing in this area verifies all participants with empathy and discretion. With the verification process we are prepared in case someone has unpleasant intentions. The Equal eSports Cup is and remains a safe space for players. All teams and players that register will be contacted by the verification team and informed about the process and what they need to do. The step of verification is necessary to avoid people from exploiting our Cup.

Each team consisting of 5 players (women and non-binary people) has the opportunity to register for the Open Qualifier on May 17th 2025 and May 18th 2025. The 4 best teams of the Qualifier qualify for the Group Stage, which begins on July 1st 2025.

Register your team for the Open Qualifier: Our partner agency will then take care of verifying your team. Important: Please keep an eye on the deadline for registering for the Open Qualifier! The registration deadline is stated on the registration form.

July 1st 2025 Matchday 1 July 2nd 2025 Matchday 2 July 3rd 2025 Matchday 3 July 8th 2025 Matchday 4 July 9th 2025 Matchday 5 July 10th 2025 Tiebreaker Playoffs: July 22nd - August 10th Finals: tbd. Gamescom

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, belonging in a male-dominated pro player scene, notoriety and recognition. Apart from that, we have of course also provided prize money:

(1.) 5000€ (2.) 2500€ (3.) 1750€ (4.) 750€

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

The top 2 Teams at the end of the playoffs will qualify for the Grand Final, which will be played at Gamescom.

Website: https://www.equal-esports.com/events/equal-esports-cup Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/equalesportsgg Twitter: https://twitter.com/EsportsPlayerF1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/equalesportsgg Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@equalesportsgg

The Equal Esports Initiative advocates for more equality, diversity and inclusion in Esports. The initiative was launched in 2021 by Deutsche Telekom, SK Gaming and the esports player foundation and consists of 4 strands: The promotion of women and non-binary talent by the esports player foundation in the League of Legends and Brawl Stars titles. The creation of SK Avarosa The creation of the Equal Esports Council The initiation of the annual Equal Esports Festival.

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.