Another year full of great moments and extraordinary achievements lies behind us. The Equal eSports Initiative grantees have made some impressive achievements in 2023 that will inspire the next generation of women and non-binary players.

In March, Caltys played with G2 Hel in the final of the GIRLGAMER 2023 Esports Worlds in Bahrain, but unfortunately had to concede defeat to the Korean team Kingnigatsa. The players Delicate and Dragon finished in 4th place.

Shortly afterwards, the tournament started in May PATHFINDERSin which some of our Equal eSports talents took part. Shiina became the new G2 Hel jungler and won all three main events together with Caltys.

Main Event 1

  • 1st place Shiina and Caltys with G2 Hel
  • 2nd place Sanah, Delicate and Kyanna with QLASH Midnight
  • 3-4th place Zavee with BIG Chroma as well as Evalunna and Sha with SeaPandas

Main Event 2

  • 1st place Shiina and Caltys with G2 Hel
  • 2nd place Zavee with BIG Chroma
  • 3-4th place Sanah, Delicate and Kyanna with Team GO Aurora, as well as Evalunna and Sha with BDS Valkyries
  • 5-6th place Aly with Vitality French Bees

Main Event 3

  • 1st place Shiina and Caltys with G2 Hel
  • 2nd place Sanah and Kyanna with Team GO Aurora
  • 3-4th place Miella with NNOwO
  • 5-6th place Zavee with BIG Chroma as well as Evalunna and Sha with BDS Valkyries

Another new tournament is the Equal eSports Cupin which over 20 different women and non-binary teams from all over Europe took part. The special thing about the EEC is that the cup also explicitly allows non-binary players to take part. 

Nenris, GwolfiG and Apollonia won 1st place with SK Avarosa at the Equal eSports Festival and thus became the winners of the EEC. Zavee took 2nd place with BIG Chroma, Evalunna and Sha took 3rd place with Team BDS Valkyries and Caltys and Shiina took 4th place with G2 Hel.  

Over the course of several months, there were four qualifiers, in which the players could collect points to qualify for the Grand Final in September:

Closed Qualifier 1

  • 1st place Caltys and Shiina with G2 Hel 
  • 2nd place Zavee with BIG Chroma
  • 3rd place Sanah, Delicate and Kyanna with Team GO Aurora
  • 4th place Nenris, GwolfiG and Apollonia with SK Avarosa

Closed Qualifier 2

  • 1st place Evalunna and Sha with BDS Valkyries
  • 2nd place Nenris, GwolfiG and Apollonia with SK Avarosa
  • 3rd place Sanah, Delicate and Kyanna with Team GO Aurora
  • 4th place Caltys and Shiina with G2 Hel 

Closed Qualifier 3

  • 1st place Zavee with BIG Chroma
  • 2nd place Nenris, GwolfiG and Apollonia with SK Avarosa
  • 3rd place Sanah, Delicate and Kyanna with Team GO Aurora
  • 4th place Caltys and Shiina with G2 Hel 

Closed Qualifier 4

  • 1st place Zavee with BIG Chroma
  • 2nd place Team Solary Academy
  • 3rd place Nenris, GwolfiG and Apollonia with SK Avarosa
  • 4th place Miella with NNOwO

With the Coupe des Étoiles a smaller tournament started at the end of the year in France, in which our sponsored players Aly, Evalunna, Sha, Kyanna and Sanah took part. The final was played at the Paris Games Week.

  • 1st place Sanah and Kyanna with Team GO Aurora
  • 2nd place Evalunna and Sha with BDS Valkyries
  • 3rd place Aly with Vitality French Bees

Other:

G2 Hel also played with Caltys and Shiina in Division 3 of the NLC in addition to the tournaments. They finished 6th in both the Spring and Summer Split.

Another highlight came in December, when Caltys played with the G2 Main team against Eintracht Spandau at Xperion Berlin.

It was super nice to see how the hard work of our players paid off and some of them were placed with professional organizations as part of the EEC. In addition, entire rosters were taken over during the EEC. For example, Team BDS took over the SeaPandas roster and the QLASH roster was taken over by Team GO Aurora, resulting in Evalunna, Sha, Delicate, Kyanna and Sanah receiving contracts with major esports organizations.

One of the biggest milestones for the initiative in 2023 was when former Equal eSports talent Sayna became the first woman in PRM League Div 1.

We were also proud of some Equal eSports alumni who are also taking big steps, be it focusing on their post-career and completing their studies, or continuing to be successful in esports.

We look forward to continuing to support the careers of our players in 2024, ensuring that women and non-binary talent get a chance in the esports industry. #EQUALESPORTS

Category: Equal Esports