The World’s Best Esports Teams to Compete in the BLAST Premier World Final

Disclaimer: This article is brought to you by BLAST.

The biggest and best names in Counter-Strike and esports are heading to Abu Dhabi next month to compete in the highly-prestigious BLAST Premier World Final and a chunk of the USD $1 million prize pool.

From 14 to 18 December, eight of the best esports teams will battle it out to reign supreme in the season-ending tournament with the chance to be crowned the best Counter-Strike side of 2022 as well as taking the lion’s share of the mouth-watering USD $1 million prize pool.

With some of the biggest names in esports competing, combined with plenty of activities in the dedicated BLAST Fan Zone, the event promises to be one of the most incredible gaming tournaments to be held in the region and there are still tickets available to experience it.

Taking place at the Etihad Arena, the Middle East’s largest state-of-the-art indoor venue - which recently hosted UFC 280 and the NBA Abu Dhabi Games - the BLAST Premier World Final is in partnership with AD Gaming, a pioneering gaming and esports initiative that is helping to grow gaming in Abu Dhabi.

For many years, BLAST Premier, a global esports tournament series, has been uniting fans through their shared love of gaming by putting on packed out arena events at iconic locations in all corners of the world. Abu Dhabi joins an impressive list of London, Copenhagen, Miami, Sao Paulo, Istanbul and Madrid.

FaZe Clan, Team Vitality and Navi heading to Abu Dhabi!

Three of the most high-profile esports and Counter-Strike teams have already booked their place in the grand finale, with five more of the biggest and best to come!

FaZe Clan triumphed in the ESL Pro League Season 15 and won the PGL Antwerp Major, while NAVI won the BLAST Premier Spring Final in Lisbon in June.

French side Team Vitality - which features the four-time Counter-Strike Major winning trio of ‘dupreeh’, ‘Magisk’ and ‘zonic’ in their ranks - will also be descending on Abu Dhabi next month.

The line-up will be completed by the end of November with the ESL Rio Major and BLAST Premier Fall Final winners joining the field which will also include the top three teams in the ‘Race to the World Final Leaderboard’.

‘dupreeh’, ‘twistzz’ among the star names to watch!

Fans can look forward to witnessing some of the best players live up close with many enthralling matches expected over the five days.

‘S1mple’ of NAVI is widely considered as one of the greatest and most accomplished professional gamers and esports players of all-time, having won 21 HLTV MVP medals and a Major, while ‘Twistzz’ is one of the most famous faces in North America, having secured numerous titles since joining FaZe Clan in 2021.

FaZe Clan will also be counting on ‘karrigan’, one of the most well-known and successful in-game leaders in CS:GO history.

There will also be plenty of stardom in the Team Vitality squad. ‘dupreeh’ has established himself as one of the most successful esports players in the CS:GO circuit with the Danish star already having four Majors to his name so far while ‘apEX’ is an excellent in-game leader. ‘ZywOo’ will also be featuring – a player who is considered to be the second-best player behind ‘S1mple’ having broken through since 2018.

The highly successful ‘dupreeh’ is looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd at the World Final. He said: “For any player, it is always amazing to be playing in an arena so to play in a big arena (like Etihad Arena) is going to be massive for everyone. We love playing in front of a crowd and we want to make sure there's a great atmosphere with lots of fans and it’s something that we’re looking forward to.”

BLAST Fan Zone

Fans will not be short of options for entertainment with a wide variety of activities lined up at the BLAST Fan Zone.

Fans can participate in an epic weekend of Counter-Strike, FIFA, Fortnite & Fall Guys - enjoying everything a gamer could dream of in the BLAST Fan Zone. On top of that, there will also be opportunities to meet the international esports stars as well as the biggest names in the Middle East gaming scene in-person.

All in all, the BLAST Premier World Final will be a whole new entertainment experience for fans and players in what promises to be an unmissable event.

Tickets for 17 and 18 December cost as low as AED 50 for Students and AED 115 per person.

To purchase tickets, please visit https://www.etihadarena.ae/en/event-booking/blast-premier-world-final-2022. Tickets are also available at Platinum List and Virgin Megastore.