Tournament organiser BLAST Premier has announced that this year’s edition of the BLAST Premier World Final will take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
This is the first time BLAST’s CS:GO tournament finals will be held in UAE. The event, held in front of a live audience, will occur between December 14th-18th at the Etihad Arena on Yas Island.
BLAST Premier has teamed with ADGaming to bring the event to Abu Dhabi. This is part of a three-year collaboration between the two companies. Established in 2021, ADGaming is an initiative that aims to strengthen Abu Dhabi’s gaming and esports capabilities.
The World Final is BLAST Premier’s largest event of the year and is the culmination of two competitive seasons. The event boasts a $1m (~£820,000) prize pool and features eight of the best-performing teams in BLAST tournaments. The event will be BLAST’s third major CS:GO LAN of the year, following the Spring finals in Lisbon and Fall finals, which is set to take place in Copenhagen in November.
BLAST announced that the choice of Abu Dhabi as a host city is part of the company’s commitment to reaching new audiences. BLAST Premier’s Managing Director Charlotte Kenny highlighted that the event means that CS:GO is ‘following in the footsteps’ of popular traditional sports such as UFC, F1 and NBA, all of which have hosted events in Abu Dhabi.
James Hartt, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Abu Dhabi Gaming, added: “BLAST is truly a world leader in the esports industry, so their commitment to Abu Dhabi perfectly demonstrates the scale and impact of the Emirate’s growing gaming and esports sector, both in terms of the industry and the player community.”
Information regarding ticket prices and sale times have not been revealed.
