The International Esports Federation (IESF) has announced that Romania will host the 2023 Esports World Championship.
The tournament, organised by the IESF, will take place in Iași, Romania and features competitions in eFootball, Dota 2, Tekken, Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile and CS:GO.
In addition, the 15th edition of the event will see IESF host a female world championship for CS:GO.
Commencing August 24th to September 4th, the IESF World Esports Championship takes place as part of the Digital Throne exhibition. According to a release, the IESF expects ‘more than 20,000 esports enthusiasts’ to attend the ten-day event.
Unlike more traditional esports tournaments, the IESF World Esports Championship features teams made up of nations as opposed to players having to be under one organisation. Still, a lot of the rosters typically consist of players from the same competitive team.
Last year’s event saw North Macedonia walk about victorious in CS:GO, whereas the Mobile Legends event was won by Indonesia.
The event is the second time the IESF has held its world championships in Romania. The 2013 tournament took place in Bucharest with competitions in League of Legends, Alliance of Valiant Arms, StarCraft II, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
The event’s overall prize pool will be $500,000 (~£414,580), which is similar to that of the 2022 edition of the IESF World Esports Championship which took place in Bali, Indonesia.
Vlad Marinescu, President of the IESF, spoke on the introduction of female CS:GO to the event: “International Esports Federation continuously strives for inclusion and diversity in Esports. Female teams are an essential part of the World Esports Championships and we are thrilled about the upcoming women’s competitions.
“The most valuable female CS:GO player in the world currently is Ana Dumbravă, who originates from the Moldova area, not far from Iasi, so I’m sure she will be an inspiration and a stepping stone for female teams around the globe to join the competition, representing one of more than 120 countries.”
