WePlay to run Academy League Season 2 in September

The second season of the academy league will run online in September-October and culminate with the finals in Kyiv in November.

WePlay has announced details of the Academy League's second season. It will feature the same eight organizations' academy teams from the first season and offer up $100,000 in prize money again, but this time the online portion will be played in a different format.

The eight participating teams will first play in two double-elimination groups, from which the winning teams will advance directly to the finals, while the second and third-placed teams will play in a "Last Chance" group for two more finals spots.

The Academy League returns with a second season

The online part of the tournament will run from September 28-October 9 before the competition moves on to the WePlay Esports Arena in Kyiv, Ukraine on November 12-14 with the top four teams.

The inaugural season of the league took place in July-August and saw MOUZ NXT come out victorious, with Young Ninjas finishing in second place and BIG Academy and fnatic Rising rounding out the top four at the LAN finals in Kyiv.

The event showcased some of the most interesting young players on the rise, such as Russian prodigy Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov hailing from NAVI Junior, Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro and Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás from MOUZ NXT, Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău from fnatic Rising, and more.

The following eight teams will be in action again in the second season, starting from late September:

NAVI Junior
Young Ninjas
MOUZ NXT
BIG Academy Astralis Talent
VP.Prodigy
fnatic Rising
FURIA Academy fnatic Rising #87 Kevin 'Kevve' BohlinPeppe 'Peppzor' BorakFrancisco 'kst' FragosoIulian 'regali' Harjău Jon 'JDC' de Castro Age: 21 Team: MOUZ NXT Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 333 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 BIG Academy #96 Alexander 'glaVed' PletzNiklas 'NIKZEj' BurmeisterNico 'Aqua' KembitzkyChristian 'LapeX' PreußLuca 'pr1metapz' Voigt Astralis Talent #179 Mads 'vester' VestergaardAlexander 'Altekz' GivskovAndreas 'Void' DietrichsenVictor 'vigg0' BisgaardMikkel 'MistR' Thomsen Young Ninjas #40 Anton 'Sapec' PalmgrenErik 'ztr' GustafssonLove 'phzy' SmidebrantTim 'Mann3n' IsakKalle 'Ro1f' Johansson MOUZ NXT #35 Jon 'JDC' de CastroKamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekHubert 'szejn' ŚwiatłyÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásDorian 'xertioN' Berman FURIA Academy #194 Leonardo 'zmb' ToledoGuilherme 'piriajr' BarbosaIcaro 'ninjaZ' CavalariLucas 'decenty' BacelarLucas 'honda' Cano Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás Age: 19 Team: MOUZ NXT Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 322 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.64 VP.Prodigy #165 Aleksei 'RuFire' BurakovEvgeny 'r3salt' FrolovArmen 'cheerful' EksuzyanIvan 'lom1k' OvsyanikNikita 'Xerison' Sergeev Iulian 'regali' Harjău Age: 19 Team: fnatic Rising Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 70 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.65 NAVI Junior #98 Ilya 'm0NESY' OsipovEugene 'Aunkere' KaryatRodion 'fear' SmykDaniil 'headtr1ck' ValitovDanyyl 'synyx' Mazur Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov Age: 16 Team: NAVI Junior Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 151 KPR: 0.81 DPR: 0.62