Home Sweet Home, Funspark and Elisa Esports announce partnership

Tournament operators Elisa, Relog Media and Funspark in cooperation with GRID eSports platform have created a collective competitive scheme that will culminate in a major LAN tournament, the Elisa Champion of Champions. In the next two years, tournaments in the series will draw $2.7 million.

The head of Elisa Esports Teemu Koski explained that the project is aimed at creating a competitive environment for top teams that are not partners of ESL, BLAST or Flashpoint, and are therefore forced to miss major championships.

“With the extended tournament structure co-operated with Relog Media and Funspark, we wanted to provide a new way for European top teams to better their rankings and compete, even if they are not official partners with the largest commercial leagues. Our tour will attract an extraordinary combination of interesting teams in the world, which has been a long-awaited element by our viewers and fans across the Nordics and Europe. For our viewers we wanted to tell that we have listened, and acted accordingly. We can expect nothing less than a year-long party for the fans, as the new structure brings together the most interesting teams and players across Europe, week after week”, says Teemu Koski, Head of Elisa Esports.

 Based on the results of the Elisa Invitational, Home Sweet Home (Relog Media) and Funspark ULTI competitions series, participants will earn points in a special ranking that will determine the holders of invitations to the Elisa Champion of Champions, scheduled for the fall of 2022. The final event prize pool will be announced at a later date.

“Throughout 2020, we have put a significant effort in order to truly understand what our viewers and fans would love to see us deliver, both in terms of the content for the viewers and the professional opportunities for Finnish and Nordic esports teams. Partnering up with GRID, Relog Media and Funspark proves that we’re on the right track, and we will continue to work hard in order to serve the people who love esports”, adds Pasi Lindqvist, Senior Business Designer from Elisa.

Elisa Invitational and Elisa Masters in a nutshell:

  • Four Elisa Invitational events with $100,000 each, Elisa Masters with $250,000
    • Completed: Elisa Invitational Spring 2021 ($100,000 total prize money)
    • Elisa Invitational Summer 2021 ($100,000 total prize money)
    • Elisa Invitational Fall 2021 ($100,000 total prize money)
    • Elisa Invitational Winter 2021 ($100,000 total prize money)
    • Elisa Masters 2022 ($250,000 total prize money)
  • New Elisa Invitational format, applied to Elisa Invitational Summer 2021
    • Stage 1 – Qualifiers
      • May 1st – May 2nd
      • 64 Finnish teams in a Single-Elimination Bracket in Saturday’s Open Qualifier
      • hREDS, KOVA, SJ and the winner of the Open Qualifier in Sunday’s Closed Qualifier
      • Winner secures a spot in Stage 2, Regional Swiss
    • Stage 2 – Regional Swiss
      • May 6th – May 30th
      • Every week from Thursday to Sunday at 5pm and 8pm CEST
      • Swiss Group (Best-of-3) with 15 invite teams such as Nordavind and Young Ninjas, and 1 qualifier team
      • Top 8 teams will advance to Stage 3, Main Swiss
    • Stage 3 – Main Swiss
      • June 3rd – June 27th
      • Every week from Thursday to Sunday at 5pm and 8pm CEST
      • Swiss Group (Best-of-3) with 8 invite teams such as HAVU and ENCE, and 8 teams from the Regional Swiss
      • Top 8 teams will secure spots in Stage 4, the Playoffs
    • Stage 4 – Playoffs
      • June 28th – July 3rd
      • Single-Elimination Bracket with 4 rounds of play: Opening Matches, Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Grand Finals
      • 12 teams in total; 8 teams in the Opening Matches from Main Swiss, 4 teams invited to the Quarter Finals

Elisa Champion of Champions Tour in a nutshell:

  • Qualification Stages (2021-2022)
    • Home Sweet Home tournaments ($1,200,000 total prize money)
    • Elisa Invitational tournaments ($400,000 total prize money)
    • Funspark tournaments ($330,000 total prize money)
  • LAN Stages (2022)
    • LAN Sweet LAN Masters tournament ($250,000 total prize money)
    • Elisa Masters tournament ($250,000 total prize money)
    • Funspark ULTI Grand Finals ($300,000 total prize money)
  • Format
    • Online Qualification Stages, where teams collect points
    • Offline LAN Stages, where teams collect points
    • Elisa Champion of Champions tournament in 2022, where teams with the most points will battle for the title of the Champion of Champions
  • 2,7 million USD Prize Pool across a handful of tournaments in 2021-2022