Mkers victory over MACKO Esports has gifted the Italian roster a spot in the upcoming 2022 European Challenger League tournament.
This victory came after they finished the 14-game league in second place behind MACKO, before beating them 3-0 in the playoff's upper bracket final last week. In the grand-final rematch on Sunday, Mkers then beat MACKO again, 3-1, to be crowned the most recent Italian champions and get a EUCL qualification spot.
This will be the second time the team competes in the EUCL following a quarter-final exit to Acend in the 2021 tournament. Prior to this, the team made its most prominent appearance at the 2021 Six Invitational after winning the open qualifiers before exiting in 9-12th place.
Since these prior tournaments, the team has added "Dora" to replace Pietro "Scatto" Scattolin and completely refreshed its support staff lineup.
They are now the third team to qualify for the Challenger League alongside the following teams:
#flag@20:fr ex-Heroic -- Auto-relegated from the 2021 EU League #flag@20:ru HellRaisers -- Lost the 2021 EU League relegation match against Team Secret #flag@20:it Mkers -- PG Nationals Spring 2022 victor
Seven more national league teams will qualify for the EUCL in the coming months on the following dates:
- July 24th -- Spain National victors
- August 3rd -- 6 French League group stage leaders
- August 7th -- Benelux League victors
- August 30th -- V4 Masters victors
- August TBD - top-2 from the Northern Premier League
- September 4th -- GSA League victors
As well as this, six teams will qualify for the tournament through the open qualifiers. Qualifier one has already been completed, with the results seen below:
- 1st -- Viperio 86
- 2nd -- WYLDE
- 3-4th -- EDS & TENSTAR
- 5-8th -- 321 Sked Esport, Coalesce, DeathroW, & JLingz Esports
You can learn more about the open qualifier formats and teams to watch in our dedicated coverage article.