New Delhi, April 1 (IANS): Esports Federation of India (ESFI) has opened the registrations for the National Esports Championships (NESC) 2024, marking the start of the journey towards the 16th World Esports Championships (WEC) which will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Organised by the International Esports Federation (IESF), the WEC 2024 will witness a total of 609 teams representing their countries across five game titles – Counter Strike 2 (Open and Female), Dota2, eFootball series, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (Open and Female), and PUBG MOBILE.

The prestigious tournament will kick off on November 11 and feature a whopping prize pool of $1 million prize pool being distributed among the top 8 teams in each game title and category for the first time.

The NESC 2024 will provide a platform for players across India to demonstrate their prowess in DOTA 2 (Open), eFootball (Open), and Counter-Strike 2 in the open and female categories. The winners will advance to the regional qualifiers where they will compete against other Asian countries to secure their berth for the global finals of the WEC 2024.

Commenting on the commencement of the NESC 2024, Vinod Tiwari, president of Esports Federation of India, stated, “After a historic 2023, where India made its debut at the Asian Games 2022, we are excited to embark on a new year of opportunities with the NESC 2024. Last year, we hosted the country's inaugural female CS:GO qualifiers, where the winning team made it all the way to the Asian qualifiers. This time, we anticipate even greater achievements from our country’s talented female athletes. Overall, we are looking forward to witnessing the talent and passion of all Esports players throughout the qualifiers.”

The registrations for NESC 2023 are open and will continue until April 15. The online qualifiers will kick off on April 18 and will be played in a double-elimination format.