The International Esports Federation (IESF) has opened the search for host of the 14th edition of its flagship Esports World Championship in 2022.
Billed as “the world’s only multi-game Esports tournament that features national teams” the IESF expects over 100 nations to be represented in 2022 with more than 1000 participants and an online audience exceeding 1.5 million viewers.
IESF Vice President Youngman Kim said the event “will bring the most contemporary Esports trend to your community.”
“It will change the way of communication between generations and garner greater understanding between them,” he added.
Having been forced to cancel the annual event scheduled to be held in Eilat, Israel last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2021 edition has been awarded to the same site for 2021. Game titles DOTA 2, Tekken 7 and eFootball PES 2021 were to be played at last year’s championships. Five game titles are expected to be contested in 2022.
Warcraft, Starcraft and League of Legends are among other popular titles that have been part of the World Championships. In 2019 teams representing Korea, Iran and Sweden were winners of the three competitions staged at the event held in Seoul, South Korea.
The IESF has been working towards gaining support from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an Olympic recognized sport federation, but last year the IOC said it wasn’t ready to move in that direction with either the IESF or its rival, the Global Esports Federation (GEF). The IESF became a Word Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) signatory in 2013.
Download IESF Esports World Championships 2022 Bid Book
Still, the IOC has shown that it is serious about embracing esports in the future with the launch of the Olympic Virtual Series (OVS) taking place for the first time this spring with titles including Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 and Gran Turismo. Instead of an esports federation the IOC has partnered with five existing sport federations for the OVS including World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), World Rowing, World Sailing and Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).
The IESF has published an 11-page ‘bid book’ to pitch to potential hosts and has set a July 5, 2021 deadline for them to submit letters of intent. After consultations with interested parties the IESF will request a completed bid package from bidders before conducting an evaluation and site survey ahead of the formal voting process.
No specific timelines for the election of the host have been published.
