6th e-Sports World Championship Baku

The Crystal Hall, Baku

The International eSports Federation (IeSF) has moved forward with eSports on an unprecedented scale.

The recognition that the IeSF has earned from 2008 among governments is now beginning to bear fruit.

There was a time when we all thought that the IeSF would only be able to host its events in South Korea. After all, the IeSF, through the efforts of the General Secretary, Mr. W. S. Oh, had earned the respect, and support of the South Korean government.

However, in 2013 the bold move was taken to allow the Romanian member, the PGL, to host the championships in Bucharest in Romania.
The championship in Romania was a fantastic success.

Certainly the South African team thoroughly enjoyed the event.
Thus with the success of the event in Romania, the IeSF decided to allow members to bid for the event.

And so Azerbijan won the bid for the 2014 World Championships.

Thus on the 1^st of May 2014 the IeSF signed a MOU for hosting 6^th e-Sports World Championship with both the Azerbaijan Cyber Sports Federation and Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Through the MOU, the government of Azerbaijan will be directly involved in hosting World Championship with full support including funding for whole operation.

The 6^th e-Sports World Championships shall be played from 12 – 17 November 2014 in the Crystal Hall in Baku.

Apparently the hall boasts an amazing internet speed of 1 GB.

The MSSA has also stated that it will enter its official South African Team to play in such World Championships.

It will the first time that the MSSA will send a team to Azerbijan.

Up to now, the MSSA has only sent eSports teams since 2005 to the USA, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Namibia, and Romania.

According to the MSSA shortly after the IeSF announced the venue, the IeSF announced which titles to be played at such championships in order to allow all member federations to adequately prepare.

The tiles to be played at the 6^th e-Sports World Championship Baku are:

Male division	Female division
Dota 2	StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm	Tekken Tag tournament 2

Two to three additional official games can still be added by the host county. 

I'm pretty much hoping that League of Legends and/or CounterStrike GO will still be added to the event.

However, even if they aren't, I estimate that this event is likely to set the MSSA back over two hundred thousand rands to get the team overseas.

Now that is a real commitment to gaming!