The boom in popularity of eSports has been one of the biggest success stories of the 21st century and the sector looks set for further growth over the coming years.
Increased interest from major sponsors and broadcasters coupled with crossovers with traditional sports are amongst the primary factors behind the rise of eSports.
Coverage from respected websites such as Sports Today continues to grow and will serve to help the eSports industry remain on an upward trajectory.
The upcoming schedule is packed with exciting events, so let’s take a closer look at some of the best eSports tournaments to follow in 2023.
EA Sports Cup
The introduction of the EA Sports Cup competition for the 2022/23 football season sparked plenty of excitement in eSports circles.
Validation from traditional sports is crucial to the future of eSports, and this brand-new tournament attracted several massive names from the football world.
Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Ajax were amongst the notable clubs to enter the EA Sports Cup and were drawn alongside each other in the same group.
PSG fared best of the trio and will be in the line-up when the final stage of the tournament is played in January. The two finalists will advance to the FIFAe Club World Cup 2023.
DreamHack 2023
eSports giants DreamHack have a busy year lined up, with the firm scheduled to host 12 festivals in nine major cities across Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania in 2023.
The DreamHack schedule gets underway in the United States in April, before events are staged in Australia and Japan over the following weeks.
Germany, Spain, India and Sweden are also on the agenda during a year where the company will stage several competitions across different titles.
They include DreamHack Hanover hosting a CS:GO ESL Challenger event and DreamHack San Diego hosting the Snapdragon Pro Series Challenge North America Finals.
eChampions League
The writers at respected news and features website Football Today will be in their element as the prestigious Champions League reaches its conclusion in June.
In addition to the final in Istanbul, there will also be the small matter of a $280,000 prize pool up for grabs at this season’s eChampions League (eCL) Finals.
Following a lengthy qualification process, 32 players will participate in the knockout phase to be staged in London at the end of April.
They will be whittled down to the final eight players who will head to Turkey to compete for the right to be called the best in Europe.
Asian Games Hangzhou
The delayed 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 will be a pivotal moment for eSports as the genre takes another important step towards full Olympic recognition.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced that eight video game titles will feature at the event including FIFA, Dota 2, League of Legends and Dream Three Kingdoms 2.
Hearthstone, Street Fighter V and Asian versions of PUBG Mobile and Arena of Valor will also be included as eSports makes its Asian Games debut.
Each game will have a gold, silver and bronze medal up for grabs, giving players ample opportunity to cement their names into eSports folklore.
FIFAe Club World Cup
Last season’s FIFAe Club World Cup was a massive success, with hundreds of players from around the world signing-up to take part in the tournament.
The 2022/23 competition features a vast array of teams from traditional football clubs, eSports clubs, dedicated eSports teams and community eSports teams.
A global network of online qualifiers are used to narrow down the field of players who will progress to the FIFAe Club Play-offs.
They battle for the right to join the two EA Sports Cup finalists as one of the 24 competing teams at the FIFAe Club World Cup.
World eSports Championships
The International Esports Federation (IESF) has confirmed that the 15th edition of the World eSports Championships will be staged in Romania in 2023.
More than 130 nations are expected to be represented by around 1,200 players at an event that has become an integral part of the eSports schedule.
Indonesia hosted this year’s event Finals which featured six game titles, a women’s division and a whopping $500,000 prize pool.
The Championships are the biggest multi-sport spectacle of eSports in the world and currently the international pinnacle for players in the absence of full Olympic recognition.