Filipino esports aspirants will get a shot at glory as the National Electronic Sports Federation of the Philippines (NESFP) will hold the local qualifying tournament for the Cyberathlete Collegiate Mobile Legends (CCML) Series on July 30 to August 1.
College students aged 18 years old and above are eligible to join the Philippine qualifier of the regional tilt that leads to a world championship featuring a grand prize of $250,000 (P12.3 million).
A team must be composed of seven players--five starters and two substitutes--from the same institution, with a teacher serving as team handler.
“To guarantee maximum support from their schools or colleges, the teams have as handlers their teachers. The very essence of education is a must for the conduct of this competition," said NESFP secretary general Alvin Juban.
Registration is free and must be done through the KALARO official tournament platform. The registration link will be announced soon along with other updates through the CCML PH Facebook page.
The country's top teams from the qualifier will advance to the regional tryouts wherein they will battle it out with squads from other nations for the right to compete in the regional season.
Teams that will make it to the regional season will receive $2,000 (P98,000) each and an additional $5,000 (P245,000) will be awarded to the champion. There will be three seasons which are slated for January, March and November next year.
At the conclusion of the third season, the four top-ranked collegiate teams from Southeast Asia will get their golden chance to vie for the $250,000 grand prize against other collegiate squads from around the world in the World Collegiate Finals in December 2022.
“This is one of the highlight events of the esports community—not only in the Philippines, but also globally,” said Ramon “Tats” Suzara, president of NESFP, one of Cyberathlete’s qualifying country partners that include Singapore's Cybersports and Online Gaming Association, Singapore Esports Association, E-Stars Nation (Malaysia) and National and Ligagame Esports (Indonesia).
The world tournament will serve as the culminating event of the 25th year celebration of organizer Cyberathlete, the oldest esports company based in Singapore.
"We’re excited to kick the series off in Southeast Asia, where Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has met with massive success,” said Cyberathlete CEO Scott Valencia.
“But more importantly, we are proud to be putting students on a path that will allow them to be highly competitive in collegiate esports while remaining engaged with their academic commitments."
Joining Suzara, Juban and Valencia in the online press conference were Cyberathlete VP for Marketing & PR Christa Yeo and KALARO executives Marvin Alberto and Jun Lasco.