We at ESL Gaming truly believe in a world where everybody can be somebody. Sometimes, however, one key ingredient that is missing is a solid infrastructure. As the next big leap in fulfilling this long-term ambition, we are super excited to launch an all-new competitive women’s ecosystem for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) together with our dedicated partners Intel® and DHL. By increasing awareness, providing new opportunities, and improving representation, we are thrilled to give ambitious women CS:GO players equal chances and help them make their dreams come true.

This initiative is but the first step of many in ESL Gaming’s new #GGFORALL program, which follows our belief that “it’s not GG, until it’s GG for all,” and focuses on pushing the boundaries to ultimately make gaming and esports an inclusive, respectful and all-empowering space. The program will include several Corporate Responsibility initiatives to decrease the environmental impact we have as ESL Gaming, to aid in establishing an inclusive gaming community free of discrimination, verbal abuse, and bullying, and much more.

Together with the dedicated support from Intel® and DHL, we created a CS:GO ecosystem for women that offers $500,000 across regional leagues, standalone events at DreamHack festivals, and ESL Cash Cups:

• The new leagues feature eight teams in both Europe and North America and a total of $150,000 prize pool. The three best teams from both regions, together with a South American and an Asian-Pacific team coming from open qualifiers, participate in the Global League Finals at DreamHack festivals. In 2022, these Finals will take place at DreamHack Dallas on June 3-5, and DreamHack Winter on November 25-27. 
• Also taking place during DreamHack festivals, there will be standalone events which will, per event, see eight teams from all four regions battle over a $100,000 prize pool, equal to ESL Challenger events that are part of ESL Pro Tour. The first event is set take place at DreamHack Valencia on July 1-3, 2022. 
• Finally, starting in January 2022, ESL Cash Cups for women’s teams will be added to ESEA, giving teams featuring a full women’s roster the opportunity to compete twice a month for their share of a total of $4,000 prize pool, which will be split evenly between the Asian-Pacific, European, North American and South American regions.

On top of that, we have committed to instituting a women players council that will aid in defining further details around the CS:GO ecosystem for women and that provides women a platform for consolidated feedback towards ESL Gaming and other Tournament Organizers. Moreover, we continue to work towards increasing the representation of women as broadcasting talents as well as within our company. To amplify that, we’re introducing a talent development program that provides select aspiring broadcast talents the necessary tactics and tools to become successful and offers opportunities to cast competitions within ESL Gaming’s CS:GO ecosystem. Likewise, we are looking to expand the ESL Gaming family by opening up additional job opportunities within the company to enhance the new product further.

Other CR initiatives launched in conjunction with the women’s CS:GO circuit include our recently announced efforts to offset its carbon footprint. 

Stay tuned for more details about our current and future #GGFORALL initiatives and how you can get involved.

Read more about GGFORALL at ggforall.gg