As the UK esports scene has grown, so too has the number of teams from amateur, to semi-pro to those battling it out on stages in front of audiences worldwide.
These teams compete in a diverse range of esports scenes, including League of Legends, CS:GO, Apex Legends, Overwatch, Fortnite, Halo, VALORANT, Rainbow Six, Rocket League, FIFA and more. In order to showcase some of the best and brightest professional UK esports organisations, Esports Insider has created a handy guide to sharpen your knowledge of the scene at a national level.
1J Esports is the official esports team of Norwich City football club. The organisation’s FIFA team already has one FIFA ePremier League title, despite having been established fairly recently towards the end of 2021.
The organisation maintains strong connections with its founding football club, embodying the same values of growth, resilience, integrity, pride, belonging and commitment.
French motorsport company Alpine also owns the UK-based Alpine Esports, competing in the F1 Esports Series.
Alongside competing with its F1 esports team, the organisation holds community events and tournaments, across multiple platforms. Community tournaments can often be watched on the organisation’s Twitch Channel.
Endpoint is one of the most decorated UK CS:GO organisations and currently has active rosters in Rocket League and Quake, alongside the FPS title.
In Rocket League, Endpoint has held two RLCS European Open titles during the 2021-2022 season. The Rocket League team was also one of only three European teams to qualify for every LAN of the season. Endpoint signed an all-female Rocket League team in 2022, which competes as Endpoint CeX Ultraviolet in events such as the Women’s Carball Championship.
The team is currently in the process of establishing a new UK HQ in Sheffield, which will be available as an esports venue.
Since the company’s conception in 2014, EXCEL Esports has rapidly expanded from its roots in FIFA to numerous competitive esports scenes. Between its 2015 competitive debut and the present, the organisation has competed in FIFA, Call of Duty, Halo, Hearthstone, Street Fighter, Rocket League, Counter-Strike, League of Legends (entering the LEC in 2020) and VALORANT.
EXCEL most recently signed an all-female VALORANT roster that aims to compete in the 2023 VCT Game Changers Tournament. Currently, the organisation has active League of Legends, VALORANT, and FIFA teams.
Now with an HQ and esports venue in Shoreditch, London, EXCEL used to reside in Twickenham’s esports venue.
Widely considered the most well-recognised UK-based esports team, Fnatic has maintained a legacy in the UK esports scene since its birth in 2004. In 2011, the organisation was one of the first to sign a professional League of Legends team and won the first-ever World Championship. Fnatic continues to compete in the LEC; EMEA’s League of Legends professional circuit.
As of 2023, Fnatic has active teams in League of Legends, CS:GO, VALORANT, Halo, Rainbow Six, FIFA, and Apex Legends (although its Apex Legends team competes in the APAC-North Region in Japan).
Established at the start of 2023, Fourth Wall was created by former staff of X7 esports after it disbanded.
X7 previously acquired esports organisations London Esports, Bulldog Esports and Absolved between September 2021 and June 2022. Members of these acquired organisations launched Fourth Wall on the foundations of inclusivity and entertainment.
The organisation currently competes in League of Legends’ NLC ecosystem and hosts regular community events.
Famously, Guild Esports is a UK team co-owned by legendary footballer David Beckham. The organisation fields teams in VALORANT, Fortnite, Rocket League and FIFA. September 2021 marked the beginning of Guild Esports’ journey into women’s esports, signing its active women’s VALORANT roster. The organisation has since added an all-women CS:GO team.
Guild Esports has a strong focus on developing UK talent, with an Academy system designed to train esports athletes to their fullest potential and a UK HQ for hosting events and bootcamps.
Founded in 2017, Horizon Union is a content and gaming-focused organisation that holds rosters within Apex Legends and FIFA.
The organisation recently competed ALGS’ 2023 Split 1 Playoffs at the CopperBox Arena in London. Moreover, in 2022 the organisation signed notbale FIFA player Alex ‘Shawrey’ Shaw, who is currently representing football club Fulham in 2023’s ePremier League. Outside of esports, Horizon Union works collaboratively with its vast roster of creators.
Into the Breach, or “ITB” Esports is a UK esports team currently competing in CS:GO, Trackmania, Dota 2, and most recently, SimRacing. The organisation entered the SimRacing scene in February 2023, quoting the UK as being a forerunner in motorsports as a factor in its decision.
As of March 2023, ITB Esports has partnered with Samsung SSD to support its progress within the scene.
Founded by British footballer Jesse Lingard, Jlingz Esports currently fields rosters in Halo and Apex Legends, having previously competed in Rainbow Six and FIFA.
The organisation received considerable attention at the February 2023 ALGS Split 1 Playoffs, signing previous free agents ‘VZN’ only days before the competition began. Despite missing out on qualifying for the finals, the team left the competition well-respected by fans and professionals alike.
Founded in 2018, LDN UTD has previously held prominent regional rosters across an array of esports titles, including Rocket League, League of Legends and VALORANT, the latter of which was through a joint partnership with OG Esports.
The organisation has recently taken a step back from competitive esports following its acquisition by Web3 company Ludus Gaming in November 2022, with LDN focusing on education and community activations.
London-based esports organisation Lionscreed currently competes in the Fortnite scene. The organisation recently competed in League of Legends, through regional league NLC and the Rising Stars Women’s tournament. Lionscreed has a particularly strong focus on cultivating a strong, diverse and inclusive community.
Lionscreed frequently hosts tournaments and competitions, including its student-focused VALORANT tournament, Lions Clash. Lionscreed also has a strong focus on content creation, with a large team of creators and streamers. As of 2022, the organisation established new relations in Manchester at Host Salford.
The London Royal Ravens is a Call of Duty League franchise owned by ReKT Global — the parent company of European esports organisation Rogue. The franchise is also co-owned by UK YouTube sensation Vikram ‘Vikkstar123’ Singh Barn.
London Royal Ravens is one of the 12 founding franchises in the Call of Duty League.
Although based in and representing London in Overwatch, London Spitfire is owned by North American organisation Cloud9. The organisation has been competing in the Overwatch League since its inaugural season in 2017.
London Spitfire claimed the title of Champions in the 2018 Overwatch League Inaugural Season Playoffs, and its UK coach ChrisTFer was awarded Overwatch Coach of the Year in 2022.
One of the UK’s biggest football teams, Manchester City fields esports teams in Fortnite and FIFA. The organisation has one ePremier League Championship under its belt and qualified for Fortnite’s March 2023 FNCS Grand Finals.
Founded in 2005, Method Esports has grown from a World of Warcraft Guild into an organisation dominating World First events. The team has twelve end boss World Firsts as of March 2023, with teams covering World of Warcraft Raiding and Classic events. Alongside World of Warcraft, the organisation also has active teams for Path of Exile and Diablo.
Method has a strong community attached to the organisation, with over 3000 members. Its website contains a wealth of information for the raiding community, covering the setup, mechanics and strategy for in-game bosses for the community to utilise.
Competing in Rainbow Six, MnM Gaming was founded by two British Chinese brothers with the drive to celebrate diversity as well as what is unique and unites both cultures.
In February 2023, the organisation competed in the Rainbow Six ‘Six Invitational’ in Canada, making it to the tournament’s quarter-finals. MnM previously competed in the League of Legends regional scene from 2014 to 2022.
Born through F1 motorsport icon Lando Norris’ love of gaming, lifestyle, content and apparel, Quadrant aims to build a strong community within the esports scene. Currently, the organisation has notable rosters in Call of Duty: Warzone and Halo.
Resolve competes exclusively in Rocket League, with active rosters in both the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) and Women’s Car Ball (WCB).
The organisation is partnered with Formula 1 Team Williams Racing, with the two entities joining forces to enter the competitive Rocket League scene. Prior to Rocket League, Resolve had a competitive roster in League of Legends’ UK and Nordic regional scene.
Tundra Esports is the current Dota 2 world champion, winning the title at The International in 2022.
The organisation also competes in Fortnite — having won the Fortnite Champions Series EU for Chapter 3 Season 2 in 2022 — and Rocket League. Previously, Tundra competed in FIFA, where it won the 2022 FIFA ePremier League.
Despite its early success, the organisation is relatively new to the esports scene, having been founded in 2019. Notably, Tundra has the support of Liverpool superstar Virgil van Dijk as its shareholder.
Veloce Esports is one of the UK’s biggest sim racing competitors. The organisation hosts the largest racing media network, featuring large communities such as its 35m+ subscribers on YouTube. With multiple podiums in the F1 Esports Championship, the organisation has been a prominent player within the scene since its beginnings in 2018.
Outside of esports, Veloce also has real-life racing teams that take part in competitions such as Extreme E and W Series.
After finding success winning Division Three of the League of Legends NLC, Verdant was initially promoted to Division Two, before acquiring EXCEL Esports Academy’s Division One spot.
The organisation currently only competes in the NLC, and is partnered with wildlife hospital and education charity Wildlife Aid.
Competing in Rainbow Six, League of Legends Wild Rift, Quake, Hearthstone, and VALORANT, Vexed Gaming has a diverse range of esports rosters competing for the UK. Vexed’s most recent signing is its new Apex Legends team, which qualified for the ALGS Split 1 Playoffs and competed on home ground at the London Copper Box Arena.
The organisation also runs community tournaments, such as Vexed 500 (March 2022). These tournaments feature games such as Rocket League and are open to sign up for on its community Discord.
Established in 2013, Viperio is one of the most dominant esports teams in the North East of England.
Viperio recently became one of only two UK teams to reach the open qualifier for the CS:GO 2023 BLAST Paris Major, and recently celebrated achieving second place at Epic.LAN38. Alongside CS:GO, the organisation also has a competitive Rainbow Six Siege roster.
While many may recognise Wolves for its UK football team, the club’s esports division has rosters competing across Europe and China in Rainbow 6, Honor of Kings, FIFA, Identity V, Call of Duty Mobile, QQ Speed and Naraka: Bladepoint.
In 2021, Wolves also partnered with North American team Evil Geniuses, a highly decorated team competing in League of Legends, Dota 2, CS:GO, and VALORANT. Wolves’ Rainbow Six Siege team claimed a top-six finish in Canada at the Six Invitational in February 2023, rounding out a very successful first season for the team.
Disclaimer: This is not an exhaustive list and will be a work in progress and subject to change, but to be included in this list, esports organisations need to have met a minimum of at least two of the following criteria: Are UK house registered, at least one FT member of staff, have been around for 1+ year(s), and have achieved notable competitive success in national or regional competition in the past 1-2 years in any title.
