Earlier this week, FACEIT and streaming platform Twitch joined forces and launched their own Counter-Strike league, called the Esports Championship Series, featuring 20 teams, 10 from Europe and 10 from North America. With $3.5 million at stake, the ECS will compete with other tournaments like the ESL Pro League and the ELEAGUE, setting itself apart from the rest, however, by the fact that it is the very first championship to offer co-ownership to the competing sides, just like it happens in many traditional sports leagues.  Invites for ECS have been revealed
The debut season of the ECS will kick off on Sunday, with all matches being streamed live on FACEIT's Twitch channel. The list of participants is still missing one team per region as the qualifiers have not yet come to a close. Below you can find the confirmed teams for the first season of the Esports Championship Series: Europe | North America | Astralis | Cloud9 | Dignitas | Complexity | Envy | CLG | FaZe | TSM | fnatic | Luminosity | Virtus.pro | NRG | Natus Vincere | OpTic | Ninjas in Pyjamas | Liquid | MOUZ (qualified) | Echo Fox (qualified) | G2 (qualified) | TBD |
The full schedule for the ECS can be found on the league's official website.  Dignitas #11  Ruben 'RUBINO' Villarroel Jesper 'TENZKI' Plougmann Mathias 'MSL' Lauridsen Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke  FaZe #15  Ricardo 'fox' Pacheco Philip 'aizy' Aistrup Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad  G2 #8  Richard 'shox' Papillon Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy Edouard 'SmithZz' Dubourdeaux Adil 'ScreaM' Benrlitom Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro  Echo Fox #179  Sean 'seang@res' Gares Armeen 'a2z' Toussi Trey 'tck' Martin Mohamad 'mOE' Assad Ronnie 'ryx' Bylicki  Ninjas in Pyjamas #7  Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund Richard 'Xizt' Landström Adam 'friberg' Friberg Jacob 'pyth' Mourujärvi   Complexity #58   Rory 'dephh' Jackson Daniel 'roca' Gustaferri Joshua 'sancz' Ballenger Josh 'shinobi' Abastado Shawn 'witmer' Taylor  Cloud9 #13  Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir Mike 'shroud' Grzesiek Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip  CLG #12  Stephen 'reltuC' Cutler Josh 'jdm64' Marzano James 'hazed' Cobb Jacob 'FugLy' Medina Tarik 'tarik' Celik  OpTic #23  William 'RUSH' Wierzba Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz Keith 'NAF' Markovic Damian 'daps' Steele  Astralis #4  Finn 'karrigan' Andersen René 'cajunb' Borg Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Nicolai 'device' Reedtz  MOUZ #10  Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Johannes 'nex' Maget Timo 'Spiidi' Richter Denis 'denis' Howell  Natus Vincere #3  Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Denis 'seized' Kostin Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev   Envy #6   Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer Timothée 'DEVIL' Démolon  Luminosity #2  Lincoln 'fnx' Lau Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga Marcelo 'coldzera' David Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo  Liquid #9  Spencer 'Hiko' Martin Nick 'nitr0' Cannella Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Kenneth 'koosta' Suen  fnatic #1  Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Dennis 'dennis' Edman Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson   NRG #24   Fatih 'gob b' Dayik Nikola 'LEGIJA' Ninić Peter 'ptr' Gurney Justin 'just9n' Ortiz Samuel 'SileNt' Portillo  Virtus.pro #5  Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Filip 'NEO' Kubski Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski Paweł 'byali' Bieliński   TSM #50   Kory 'SEMPHIS' Friesen Pujan 'FNS' Mehta Timothy 'autimatic' Ta Hunter 'SicK' Mims |