On 21 July 2021, the Ministry of Youth and Sports granted the Ukrainian Esports Federation national status, as stated in decree No. 2561 (not yet published on the website of the Ministry). This status will give the UESF the authority to create the Ukrainian national esports team.
As the UESF explained to AIN.UA, this means that the federation is authorized to hold official championships, form training bases for teams, assign titles and ranks to eathletes, and among other things – organize a national esports team, which will represent Ukraine in international competitions.
According to the UESF, they are currently signing an agreement with the Ministry to form a national team and have to announce its composition by August 25, 2021. This team will represent Ukraine in the CS:GO, Dota 2, and other championships.
How the national team will be formed
The national team of Ukraine will be formed from members of existing clubs as well as individual athletes. The procces will be held in two stages:
- Everyone who wants to get into the team has to fill out an application. Based on this application, the federation will organize a series of competitions (details will appear on the federation’s website in the coming days). After that, coaches will select the best eathletes, form teams, and train them for some time.
- Next, the UESF will hold a final tournament between the selected teams and existing clubs.
Based on the results of this tournament, the first-ever official national eSports team of Ukraine will be formed.
To recap, the Ukrainian CS:GO and Dota 2 Championship began on July 17, 2021. In Ukraine, eSports is recognized as an official sport since September 16, 2020.
