- The World Esports Association (WESA) and ESL will host the first major Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) event in France this summer.
- CS:GO Pro League Season Nine Finals will take place during the Occitanie Esports 2019 event from June 21-23.
- This will be ESL’s first major esports event in France since it co-founded Occitanie Esports in 2018.
ESL 
, WESA , and Occitanie Region announced that the CS:GO Pro League Season Nine Finals will be held in Montpellier, in the south of France, from June 21-23. The event will take place during Occitanie Esports 2019 at the Sud de France Arena.
The CS:GO Pro League Season Nine Finals will feature 16 teams from Europe, Americas, and the Asia-Pacific region, all competing for a total prize pool of US $750K USD.
Occitane Esports was founded in 2018 by ESL, Futurolan, Occitanie Events, and supported by the Occitanie Region. According to ESL, the first Occitanie Esports event attracted over 7,000 attendees and 800 players for its various LAN tournaments.
This will be ESL’s first major esports event in France.
“We are looking forward to bringing the CS:GO Pro League Finals to a completely new location,” said Ulrich Schulze, senior vice president of product at ESL in a prepared statement. “The French community is known for its passion for esports and especially CS:GO, which comes as no surprise considering some of the top players are from France. With a brand new Pro League format featuring live studio matches and groups system, we are breaking it down to some of the purest esports the community has ever seen.”
Related Article: WESA Appoints Pietro Fringuelli as New Executive Chairman and Commissioner
WESA is the result of joint efforts between ESL and professional team organizations such as Fnatic
, OpTic Gaming , and mousesports . Formed in 2016, the group aims to standardize esports competition practices through regulations, scheduling, and player representation akin to the traditional sports industry.
In 2017, WESA enacted a new set of regulations that prohibit any person or entity to own or control multiple teams or organizations participating at WESA sanctioned events. The rules also included sanctions and a player code of conduct.
Several companies have been affected by WESA regulations including RFRSH Entertainment and ESforce Holding .
“WESA is excited by the positive development of the CS:GO Pro League and is looking forward to the new season played under WESA regulations,” said Dr. Pietro Fringuelli, commissioner of WESA in a release. “The revised competition format and expansion to new locations supports our mission to further grow and professionalize esports.”
