ESL announces the return of AU&NZ Championship for 2018

ESL Australia has announced the return of their national league for Oceania, which will feature an expansion of sixteen teams for the online league and half of them finding their way to the $20,000 AUD (~$15,670) LAN Finals in June.

ESL Australia & New Zealand Championship will consist of two seasons for 2018 (Season 6 and 7), with sixteen teams from the Oceanic region duking it out online for seven weeks per season. The online seasons will separate the teams into two groups of eight, where they will face each other in a best-of-two series per matchday.

Two years have gone by since the Season 1 champions Athletico were crowned

At the end of the first online regular season, the top four teams from each group will advance to the LAN Finals in June. It is likely to take place at the ESL Studios in Sydney, Australia due to the past five seasons being hosted there.

Fourteen teams have been invited to Season 6 of the ESL AU&NZ Championship:

Athletico	Chiefs
ORDER	Tainted Minds
Grayhound	Legacy OCE
Riotous	Lucky7
ex-Masterminds	Corvidae
Ground Zero	Conspiracy
Carnage	SSU

The remaining two teams will be determined through two open qualifiers in late February. Each open qualifier will feature a best-of-one, single-elimination bracket with the exception of the best-of-three grand final.

Here are the key dates mentioned in the announcement for ESL AU&NZ Championship Season 6:

• Open Qualifier #1: Saturday, 24th February
  
• Open Qualifier #2: Sunday, 25th February
• Week 1: March 7-8
  
• Week 2: March 14-15
  
• Week 3: March 21-22
• Week 4: March 28-29
• Week 5: April 5-6
• Week 6: April 11-12
• Week 7: April 18-19
• Season 6 Finals: June 2018 

If you are from the Oceanic region, you can register for the open qualifiers here.

Carnage Tainted Minds #50 Yaman 'yam' ErgenekonRyan 'zewsy' PalmerChris 'ofnu' HanleyConnor 'chuch' MorganJoshua 'INS' Potter ex-Masterminds Chiefs #39 Tyler 'tucks' ReillyPeter 'pecks' NguyenAlistair 'aliStair' JohnstonLiam 'malta' SchembriMatthew 'Texta' O'Rourke Grayhound #28 Christopher 'dexter' NongCallum 'BURNRUOk' HendersonSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiErdenetsogt 'erkaSt' GantulgaOllie 'DickStacy' Tierney Legacy OCE #104 Kyran 'dizzyLife' CrombieSam 'mizu' RichardsonStuart 'sonic' RaynerMatthew 'mattcd' Lenard ORDER #69 Chris 'emagine' RowlandsSimon 'Sico' WilliamsJay 'Liazz' TregillgasJordan 'Hatz' Bajic Athletico #74 Mohammed 'MoeycQ' TizaniNikhil 'NikkeZ' VictorJesse 'InfrequeNt' BarkerSam 'flickz' JonesMitchell 'Sync' Dale Conspiracy #197 Brady 'KStaar' KindtNick 'fluke' Pontil-ScalaKavian 'exzU' SafaeianIsaac 'Ayrez' AyreIsaac 'Prodigy' Dahlan Ground Zero #155 Shaun 'INSANITY' SpearyWilson 'willyKS' SugiantoChase 'Xtinct' DicksonAndrew 'majestic' OliveDavid 'moojuice' Cox Lucky7 #177 Chris 'CHRiSOAOW' FormanWill 'animus' TurnerSteve 'InJect' HonanMatthew 'ren' BeanCharlie 'zeph' Dodd SSU #148 Matthew 'SWANKY' McDonaldDavid 'cheeseball' ShiellJesse 'kaiser' SellarsSterling 'Sim' WingColter 'Dirty' Barstad Corvidae #144 Anthony 'Ar3syK' ChristouDaniel 'rbz' UrbaniDaniel 'DANZ' WhitfieldJordan 'krudeN' HillIyengaran 'IyeN' Raju Riotous #206 Caleb 'klebz' LeungAsher 'Aycer' LeungJoshua 'Lakers' P.Jordyn 'husK' NewnhamJames 'burnzke' L.