The UKEL returns to the UK & Ireland League of Legends ecosystem
The UK Esports League (UKEL) can today announce its return as an official Competitive Experience Partner of Riot Games for the UK & Ireland (UK&I) for League of Legends. The UKEL will work in partnership with Riot Games and Leagues.gg to shape the future of the UK&I ecosystem through the creation of a dedicated community space that will serve as the central hub for players, events, communications, and the competitive community. Additionally, the UKEL will be relaunching its tournament structure under the name “4 Nations”, a reference to both the former 2014 tournament, and of course the nations which make up our region.
“Our primary goal is to build a safe and welcoming community space for everyone [in the UK & Ireland] that shares in, and grows, their passion for competitive League of Legends. The return of our competitive league will also provide opportunities for competitors, talent, and support staff to progress in a professional yet accessible environment.” – Alex “Synygy” Winton, UKEL Founder & Operations Director
Creating a central hub for players, competitors and fans to engage with each other is core to the successful long-term development of the ecosystem. Working in unison with the existing UK&I community and stakeholders will allow us to address the existing challenges, such as accessibility for new players, lack of opportunity for competitors and talent, and difficulties engaging new stakeholders.
Our first initiative in building the community will be the expansion of the UKEL Discord server in preparation for it to become the official hub of not just the UKEL, but also the entire UK&I League of Legends competitive community in collaboration with Riot Games Northern Europe. The server will be welcoming of everyone who wants to be involved in League of Legends esports, providing them the ability to socialise, network and play with likeminded people, all within a safe and moderated environment. Our goal for the server is for it to be the destination for everything League of Legends related in the UK&I: making friends, finding teammates, tournaments, discussion, and so on. Members can also expect a host of other benefits such as giveaways, competitions, watch parties and social activities. The continued growth of the community will only see bigger and better opportunities for all stakeholders, from live finals and events for fans, to investment for organisations.
“To create a successful long-term ecosystem we need to build a community that feels engaged and passionate about all aspects of the ecosystem. We want the community to share and feel part of the successes, whether that’s a UK&I team competing in the NLC, or major international events returning more regularly to our nations. We also want them to feel motivated by failures, such that they want and demand more. That passion is what moves us forwards.” – Marc “Omnimushu” Busby, UKEL Founder & Managing Director
To support the community initiative, we are excited to announce the return of our competitive league which will commence later this year under the name “4 Nations”. For those who remember our last split, you can expect us to pick up where we left off in terms of both the quality broadcast and general operations. We are of course committed to improving our product and so will be putting increased effort into creating content, with a focus on building engaging and relatable storylines, working to empower teams and players through fandom. Our goal is to build a community of fans who are engaged with not just the UKEL, but also the teams, players, and talent by showcasing their wins, struggles and development in a relatable manner.
Lastly, transparency is, and always has been, a key aspect of the UKEL’s operations and will remain so in order to provide organisations and players a safe and stable environment to compete and develop in. With that in mind, we have been granted a licence by Riot Games and Leagues.gg to continue our operations until the end of the 2024 season and potentially beyond. We can confirm the league will commence on 18th September, with further key information including sign-ups, rules and schedules becoming available on 31st July via our Discord server and Twitter account.
We are incredibly excited about everything we’ve spoken about above and we hope that you as the community also feel increasingly excited for the future. We want to thank you for your support during our previous run from 2019 – 2021, as without it we wouldn’t have been asked to return, and we hope that you will be able to show us the same support going forward in order to really put the UK&I back on the map for League of Legends esports!
-Alex “Synygy” Winton, UKEL Founder
