Game publisher Riot Games has announced two new esports tournaments exclusively for women’s teams in Brazil.
Kicking off in October, Women’s League of Legends teams will compete in the the Ignis Cup. Meanwhile, Wild Rift teams will be able to compete in the Wild Circuit: Game Changers. Both of the competitions will feature a R$110,000 (~£18,735) prize pool.
The Ignis Cup will be sponsored by Santander bank and non-alcoholic beer brand Heineken 0.0. Both brands are also partners of the Brazilian League of Legends Championship (CBLOL). Wild Circuit: Game Changers, on the other hand, brings in two exclusive brands as sponsors: Coca-Cola and Motorola.
“These new championships are part of our strategy to implement tournaments and formats to encourage the women’s scene,” commented Carlos Antunes, Head of Esports at Riot Games Brazil. “With these initiatives, we want to pave the way for a movement to include, on the sports side, women who intend to enter the market in the esports segment.”
Qualifiers for both tournaments will be handled by Gamers Club, an Immortals-owned esports platform in Latin America. The finals will be held in Riot Games’ studios in São Paulo with a live audience.
Due to the partnership with Gamers Club, qualifiers for the competitions will be broadcast on the platform’s channel on Twitch. One of the two stages for Wild Circuit: Game Changers, though, will be available through the Twitch channel of Ravena Dutra, one of Riot’s official Wild Rift casters.
After qualifiers, both Ignis Cup and Wild Circuit playoffs will be cast through Riot Games’ CBLOL and Wild Tour Brasil official channels, respectively.
While Riot Games has been strongly fostering the women’s esports scene since 2021 in VALORANT through the Game Changers programme, Gamers Club has also directly organised initiatives promoting diversity in esports. Its sister company MIBR, also a property of Immortals Gaming Club, is involved in projects toward women’s inclusion in the industry like the WIBR platform.
