ESL Challenger League Season 44 results

After more than two months of intense competition, the ESL Challenger League Season 44 has ended, and with it, we have the teams that have managed to seal their direct ticket to the ESL Pro League S18.

Let’s remember that yesterday, FaZe Clan was crowned champion of the ESL Pro League S17, and with it, they managed to claim the Intel Grand Slam trophy and a prize of $1,000,000. This tells us that there are still a few months to go before the next EPL season is played, which could be the last in the CS:GO era, as let’s remember that Valve announced the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 will be the last Major of our beloved CS:GO.

ESL Challenger League S44

The ESL Challenger League was played from January through March, and teams from Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific regions, fought for the coveted EPL S18 slot and a share of the $50,000 prize pool.

Qualified teams will join the Permanent Partner Teams, which are guaranteed a spot in this tournament and do not have to play qualifiers or rely on their ESL world ranking to participate in EPL S18.

So far, the next edition of the ESL Pro League S18 is scheduled to be played from August 15 to September 24, 2023, in Malta.

ESL Challenger League S44 – Results

Europe

By looking at the teams we have in the Europe region, we can get an idea of how hotly contested this tournament was. With SAW, Sprout, forZe, BLUEJAYS, Movistar Riders, Monte, and Bad New Eagles, among others, we had more than two months of action and, above all, a lot of emotions.

As in many professional CS:GO tournaments, we had some surprises and disappointments, but emotions were always running high. Undoubtedly, the team that surprised was the Polish 9INE, who was not in anyone’s role and managed a clean run in the Upper Bracket until they reached the Grand Final, where they could not beat Monte.

Conversely, Monte started the Upper Bracket very strong with wins over Apeks and SAW. Then, 9INE sent them to the Lower Bracket, where they had to swim against the current to beat Apeks, PALOMA, forZe, SAW, and 1win again. Monte finally managed to take revenge on 9INE and beat them by a score of 3-1.

North America

In the North American region, we found a back-to-back by the Brazilians of MIBR, who claim the ESL Challenger NA champions trophy for the second consecutive edition.

MIBR dominated the entire tournament; there is no doubt about that. From their start in Group B, they won all the matches they played until the playoffs, where they had a clean run without losing a single map.

Their rivals in the final were ATK, who also had a great tournament during the two months, but were crushed by MIBR. In the final of the Upper Bracket, MIBR defeated ATK 2-0 and in the Grand Final 3-0.

Asia-Pacific

As it happened in the ESL Challenger League S43, Lynn Vision was crowned champion in this Season 44 after defeating Wings Up Gaming in the Grand Final with a crushing 3-0.

In the entire tournament, Lynn Vision lost only one game in Week 3 against Clutch Gaming (2-0). However, throughout the rest of the tournament, the Chinese team rose to the occasion and managed to win every match to punch their ticket to the ESL Pro League S18.

Lynn Vision was a real tormentor for their rivals in the grand final, Wings Up Gaming. We say this because they faced each other three times in the tournament, with three victories for Lynn Vision. However, Wings Up Gaming managed to leave IHC Esports in the Lower Bracket final. This was the favorite team to lift the champion trophy in this edition after the performance they showed in the IEM Katowice 2023.

Header: ESL