A Rainbow Six World Cup tournament has been revealed at the Ubisoft Forward panel, set for Summer 2021. The tournament will see 45 national teams will compete in qualifiers to progress into a 20 team Finals in a first of its kind for R6.
In the announcement post, Ubisoft stated this about the event:
2021 will be a particularly exciting year for Rainbow Six Esports. A long-awaited new layer of competition will be unveiled making the next year more special for the community, our players, and us. We are proud to announce the first ever Rainbow Six World Cup, a long-awaited new and independent layer of competitions that will feature the best national teams across the world in Summer 2021. We often see pro players and community showcase their national pride and enthusiasm throughout events. International rivalries emerged, and a question is raised, over and over again: which country or region truly is the best at Rainbow Six Esports? 2021 will be the year to settle this.
A total of 14 national teams will be invited directly to the event, with five online qualifiers in early 2021 involving 31 other countries fighting for the remaining six spots in the event. The process to form a team was also revealed with it being split into the following steps:
- Step 1: Starting from September 14th, the 45 countries select three team managers. One is selected by the local Ubisoft office, one will be elected by local professional players, and the third will be chosen by the local community.
- Step 2: By this fall, these managers select the five players who will compete for the national team. This includes no more than two players from the same professional organisation.
The directly invited teams include Germany, Spain, the UK, Italy, France, and Russia from Europe, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia from APAC, both Canada and the US in North America, and Mexico and Brazil in Latin America.
With these rules in place, the nations of the USA, Brazil, and France will be the standout favorites to take the title.
It is currently unknown, however, how this will affect the planned August 2021 Six Major set to be in the USA.
