Banner image: Ubisoft / Kiril B.
Earlier this week, Ubisoft announced an exclusive competition for European rosters, which will take place during the off-season. It's the company's alternative to the already extinct Challenger League.
Here's everything you need to know about R6 Central Combine.
Participants
R6 Central Combine will have 26 participants. Unfortunately, no teams have been announced yet. This is how the slots will be divided:
- Two teams from Europe League.
- Six teams from teams hosted in Central Europe last season.
- Eighteen teams from the tournament's open qualifiers.
R6 Central Combine will be divided into four phases, with the qualifiers being the first one:
Phase 1 - Qualifiers
Depending on the origin of the teams, these will be allowed to qualify for R6 Central Combine by playing in one of the following three qualifiers:
Europe League
A closed qualifier for Europe League teams will be held on Jun. 21, where the two winners will move to Phase 4.
EU Central Qualifier
On Jun. 19 and Jun. 23, teams who competed in the GSA League, the V4 Masters, or the Benelux League will take part in a special qualifier called EU Central Qualifier.
The four top teams of the EU Central Qualifier will move to Phase 2.
Additionally, teams with three out of five members from the European central region will be allowed to compete in a special closed qualifier. Ubisoft includes the following countries as part of the European central region:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Czechia
- Germany
- Hungary
- Luxembourg
- Poland
- Slovakia
- Switzerland
- The Netherlands
The top two teams of this special closed qualifier will move to Phase 2.
Open Qualifiers
Finally, European teams will be allowed to qualify for R6 Central Combine via the open qualifiers. A total of four open qualifiers will allow the rosters to gather as many points as possible.
It's important to mention that the points for each roster will be added from their three best qualifiers. For instance, a team with 15, 10, 10, and 5 points will have a final amount of 35 points as the fourth qualifier will not be counted.
After the conclusion of the open qualifiers, the 18 squads with the most points will move to Phase 2.
Phase 2 - Division Clash
Phase 2 will have 24 teams, which will be divided into four groups of six teams. The four groups will be divided into two divisions and each team will play against every roster in its division.
Teams will face once every roster in their division. After the regular stage games, the teams will move to the playoffs, where they will face off in the following format:
- Division 1: Group A top-seeded vs Group B fourth-seeded
- Division 1: Group B top-seeded vs Group A fourth-seeded
- Division 1: Group A second-seeded vs Group B third-seeded
- Division 1: Group B second-seeded vs Group A third-seeded
- Division 2: Group A top-seeded vs Group B fourth-seeded
- Division 2: Group B top-seeded vs Group A fourth-seeded
- Division 2: Group A second-seeded vs Group B third-seeded
- Division 2: Group B second-seeded vs Group A third-seeded
The name of the Divisions and Groups is yet to be announced.
These matches will create a new ranking. The teams will proceed with another set of games called cross-divisional. After two rounds, the top two of each division move to the next phase.
Phase 3 - Conference Clash
The 12 remaining teams are divided into three conferences. Every team faces every roster once. Despite playing in different conferences, the standings will be combined. The best six teams will join the two Europe League rosters in the following phase.
Phase 4 - Playoffs
The teams from the Europe League qualifier will be seeded in first and second place, as they will be followed by the Conference Clash rosters. Making it to the Playoffs will award every team with €1,000. The winner will take home €15,000!