The qualifying rounds for the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive part of the ESL African Championship concluded over the weekend, and we now have the final eight teams who will be playing in the first pre-series group phase. The group phase starts on 15 May, and will continue until 30 June, with the pre-series final taking place on 1 July.
Sunday's matchup saw MIX KOMPANY, Exdee, xTc Gaming and Flipsid3 Tactics ZA making it through to the next round. Those teams will now have to face off against Bravado Gaming, VxP_Blaze, Damage Control and Energy CS (who progressed through from the first qualifier.)
Once the first pre-series group stages are completed, the top four teams will qualify for the Top 8 round robin phase, while the bottom four teams will be entered into relegation matches.
In June a second round of four open qualifiers will be held, where the winner from each qualifier will play against the bottom four teams from the first series in the relegation matches. The best four teams from the relegation matches will then face off with the top four teams from the first group stages in the aforementioned South African Top 8 round robin.
Another round of four open qualifiers will be held in June, where the top four players will face off against the bottom four from the aforementioned round robin to complete the relegation matches.
The best four players from the relegation matches will then square off against the best four qualifiers from the first group phase in another round robin to produce the overall best four players. These players will then complete in the final, to be held at rAge in South Africa.
For more information on the ESL African Championship presented by Kwesé TV, competition details and entry criteria, be sure to visit the official ESL African Championship website, follow ESL Africa on Facebook, or if Twitter is your thing, give them a follow as well.