On November 27, 2025, we announced the ECL Season 51 - Additional Information. We announced the removal of the Oceania region’s connection to the ESL Pro League. We acknowledge the feedback provided by the community in Oceania and after further feedback from teams, we have found a way to maintain that possibility, starting with Season 51.

CHANGES

Starting with Season 51, Oceania Cup (1-4) winners will now get an invitation to participate in the now combined Asia-Oceania Regional Finals. The Asia Finals, previously a wildcard tournament for winners of ECL Asia Cup tournaments, will now expand to also include ECL Oceania Cup winners. 

From a 4-team single elimination bracket, this tournament will now expand to 8-team single elimination bracket, where a winner of Asia-Oceania Regional Finals will receive an invite to the ESL Pro League Season 24.

On top of the existing semifinal and grand final matches, we are adding quarterfinal matches that will be played in a best-of-three format. There will also be an additional day of play, on top of the existing 3 days that we have already announced.

With the expansion of slots in the Regional Final, we need to make further adjustments to the rulebook, specifically to rule 2.29 ESL Challenger League Regional Final rules within the ESL Pro Tour General Rules. This section outlines the conditions that apply to participants with multiple cup victories. For the Season 51 Asia-Oceania Regional Finals, we will be removing these additional restrictions while we evaluate potential options for Season 52. The rules have been updated accordingly.

REGIONAL FINAL INFORMATION

Asia-Oceania

• Ranked Tier 2 Wildcard event
• Participants: 8 teams
• Tournament dates: Monday, May 25 - Thursday, May 28, 2026
• Location: Online (Asian servers)
• VRS publication for seeding: Seeding will follow the first available monthly VRS publication of May 2026.
• Format: Single elimination, quarterfinals matches best-of-three, semifinal matches best-of-three, and grand final match best-of-five
• Winner is invited to the ESL Pro League Season 24

Invite exceptions:

• Based on the Tournament Operating Requirements that states: “3.6.3 A Roster shall only be eligible for a Wildcard Invite if it is ranked lower than 12 on the Global VRS list and it fulfills at least one of the following requirements as of the Invitation Date:..."
• Exceptions to invitations will apply if a player is banned by ESL, FACEIT or ESIC

Slot distribution:

OUTRO

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