One of the most anticipated StarCraft 2 tournaments is just around the corner, with the world's best players getting ready to fight for their share of $500,000 in prize money.
A legendary esports event, the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice is a CS:GO tournament held in Poland. In this guide, we'll go over all the participating teams, details about the schedule, as well as everything you need to know about IEM CS:GO betting!
The Dota Pro Circuit is in full flow. The next big tournament in this seasonal circuit is the PGL Arlington Major. Texas is the location, Esports Stadium Arlington is the venue of choice, and seventeen brilliant Dota 2 teams will be eyeing their chances here.
The LEC (League of Legends European Championship) is entering a new decade starting with the inaugural Winter split. From team rosters to an all-new tournament format, the league will be seeing much more competition.
Esports is a global phenomenon, with millions of spectators and fans tuning in to watch live games and highly prestigious tournaments. In this guide, discover whothe best esports teams are, why certain teams excel, and how you can begin betting on them!
Get straight to the point:
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Esports teams can either be an extension of the entire professional esports organisation (a team per esports game) or standalone ‘organisations’ where a couple of people (primarily players) band together to create a team.
The latter method was most common while esports was still young. A couple of prominent and successful esports organisations today started out with just 5 players sharing a dream of being the best.
Nowadays, starting an ‘organisation’ with just 5 people who make up the organisation’s one and only esports team is difficult and ill-advised. The main reason for this is how difficult it can be to run a successful esports team.
An owner has to think about budgeting, promoting their team in marketing channels, making sure the players are receiving proper training, strategising, and much more. Because of this, most new teams today have the whole organisation around them, which makes the entire process smoother.
In short, esports teams consist of a player and coach roster that the esports organisation creates so they can compete in various esports tournaments.
Esports, as an industry, is projected to continue growing and is set to hit almost $2b in revenue by 2025. The same evaluation mentions that audience numbers will increase as well. There will likely be more and more organisations that will create new teams and will require skilled players to join the world of esports.
This is good news for all aspiring gamers that feel like their skills and expertise warrant a spot in a professional esports team. But how exactly does one join an esports team?
First off, you need to know that players from some countries may have an easier time getting into esports. For example, you’re more likely to be picked up by a team if you live in France or Germany than in countries that don’t have such a powerful presence in the esports industry.
However, this doesn’t mean that your skills wouldn’t earn you a spot.
Speaking of skills, the only way esports teams would consider your application is if you are excellent at the game you play. Professional esports players are highly experienced and skilled athletes, and most excel at the games they play. There’s a massive difference between the best League of Legends player and the 25th-best.
So, if you are highly ranked and very capable, you’ve probably made a small name for yourself in the local community. And, if you continue playing well and improving, you’ll most likely attract some additional attention; there’s even the possibility a team scout will notice you!
But you shouldn’t simply bank on natural recognition progression because that might take too long and there’s also the chance that an org won’t find out about you at all. Your best bet would be to approach local orgs which have teams that play in lower leagues when you’re confident in your skills.
Players very rarely manage to join the best esports teams simply because those teams require the utmost performance levels and game knowledge. Working your way up is easier and better because you’ll keep gradually improving.
Approaching organisations can be done in a couple of ways:
You should know that joining a team requires time and effort and that you may have to face a lot of declines before you get accepted by a team. But don’t give up! If you’re truly passionate about gaming and would one day want to compete for a top team, don’t stop honing your skills and upping your game – all the top players started from zero. Let that be your motivation!
There are various ways in which esports teams make money. The most obvious is through prize winnings, but for a lot of these esports organisations, the majority of the money comes from sponsorships and merchandise. For instance, a sponsor may pay a certain sum for their logo to appear on a team’s jersey, meaning that it does not matter if that team wins or not – their matches will be broadcasted anyway and thus the logo would gain visibility and brand consciousness.
On top of that, merchandise sales are common in every sport and most esports organisations sell various apparel to fans. The more popular and beloved a team (and their organisation) is, the higher the org’s merch sales usually are.
Trying to define what a ‘best team’ in esports means is like trying to explain who the best player is. There are numerous metrics that you could use to analyse the teams and figure out how they stack against each other, but each is flawed. Does the number of accolades matter more than their prestige? Success is difficult to measure, so we’ve decided to go with something that’s simple to understand – total esports earnings. These teams are considered the best because they’ve earned the most out of all the others, which signifies their success in the tournaments they entered.
Biggest Tournament Wins:
Most Prize Money Earned:
Signature Signings:
Although 2023 is the current year, these viewership metrics usually become available at the end of each year which is why we’re showing the most-watched esports teams in 2022. You’ll notice that some highly successful teams are missing from the top 10 most watched teams list while relatively unknown teams (to the global public) are featured.
This is because certain esports regions (such as Asia) have millions of esports fans that all watch live streams of their favourite Asian teams, in some instances even more than some strong countries from Europe or the Americas.
Here are the top 10 most-watched esports teams in 2022:
*Source: escharts.com
Unfortunately, the majority of esports teams are listed privately; however, in November 2020, Fnatic secured over 10 million from internal funding, and followed this with an aim of raising 1 million pounds from a fan-based crowdfunding initiative. This crowdfunding process actually exceeded its original target, raising 1.8 million from 3,450 fan investors.
FaZe Clan is currently the only team that fans can invest in due to their company (FaZe Holdings) being listed on the stock market. Other than them, you won’t have any luck trying to invest in esports teams so it’s best to sit tight for the moment and keep an eye out in case things change.
One of the main reasons for an esports organisation to leave a certain esports scene is due to licensing and ownership issues. Team Curse, for instance, was a North American LoL team sponsored by Curse Inc. In January 2015, the organisation merged with Team Liquid, as new Riot rules meant that Curse could no longer sponsor them due to a conflict of interest.
Sometimes, an organisation realises that they do not have the resources to flourish in an esports game, or the market has become too saturated. An example here would be Natus Vincere, who are incredibly well-known in CS:GO, but had very little success in the LCL in 2016, where they played for two splits and disbanded. However, with the release of the mobile version of League of Legends, Wild Rift, the organisation has announced their roster for the game with five Chinese players based in Europe.
The most recent examples of teams disbanding or entire organisations being taken over by other organisations are Rogue and CLG.
Rogue’s LEC spot and the overall org was bought out by Team KOI, a fairly new esports team founded by Gerard Pique and Ibai Llanos.
CLG was purchased by NRG Esports which brings an end to one of the most beloved teams in League of Legends.
The truth is, esports is constantly changing and evolving. At one point you’re at the top and at another, you find yourself struggling to compete. This will likely keep happening in esports, at least for a while.
Here’s a glimpse of what you can expect from using the top 3 betting sites for esports betting:
bet365 was founded in 2000 in the United Kingdom. This bookie has two licences – the Malta Gaming Authority licence (MGA) and the United Kingdom Gambling Commission licence which makes them fully legal and trustworthy.
Registering an account with Bet365 is quick and easy but you will need to verify your account in order to access all of the site’s features and the ability to receive a betting bonus. There are also plenty of payment methods (such as credit cards, PayPal, and more) with low minimum withdrawal & deposit limits.
Other than the accommodating and excellent user experience, punters can expect very competitive odds and a large selection of esports games to bet on.
Betway also has the MGA and UKGC licences so all of your bets will be safe. Speaking of bets, Betway has some of the best live bets on the market and they offer a couple of features to enhance the overall betting experience.
For starters, you can use the Bet Builder option to create betting slips which have the potential to bring you higher winnings, but they also carry more risk. There’s also the Bet Booster feature; Betway will boost your bets for select esports betting markets.
Lastly, punters can also benefit from the Cash Out feature which allows the user to settle a bet before a match ends. Keep in mind that your winnings will be lower because of this.
GG.BET specialises in esports and you’ll find that most of their offers are related to this industry. Compared to Bet365 and Betway, GG.BET holds the Curaçao gambling licence. Depositing any amount (up to €200) will net you a 100% deposit bonus which is very helpful when you’re just starting out.
On top of that, this bookie offers a wide range of sportsbook promotions fairly regularly; not something common in the world of esports betting.
There are also dozens of other games for you to try while you’re waiting for the results of your bets, including popular casino games. So, if you’re looking for an esports-centric betting operator, GG.BET is the one.
There are hundreds of esports organisations and teams competing in global, regional, and local tournaments. Those who aspire to join one of these teams and compete on a professional level can do so by being persistent and improving their skills on a constant basis. And thanks to their numbers, you’ll never run out of bets to place on the best esports teams in 2023.
An esports team is an extension of an esports organisation that has an active, participating roster in any given esports title (or titles).
There are over 500 registered teams on Esports Earnings, some of which are inactive. However, if you were to count every single esports team in existence, you would find over 500, if not around 1000!
Sponsorships are a way for brands to gain brand visibility and consciousness among fans and players, often through logos displayed on team gear.
The International 9 saw OG take $34.3 million. Talk about a nice payday!
Team Liquid is the team that has managed to win the most prize money and by quite a hefty margin of around $6 million.
Through our in-depth guides and reviews, we are focused on providing the best insights into esports betting.