Concerning the « Defending Champions » title won by team PGS
By Giving the autoberth of CS Defending Champions to team PGS, the ESWC was putting into practice the rule specified in it’s general regulations document which can be found on the ESWC site:

« 3.03 / Rights & Duties / Rule 11 / Club's rights ».
The club gives the following rights:
- creation and management of teams.
- property of their team’s sportive results and performances.

This rule was created and applied starting from the 2003 edition.

We have no objections discussing and refining our rule sets. However we cannot do so at the exact moment when the rule is to be applied. We are holding Annual assemblies with all of the ESWC partners to brainstorm and debate on such issues if needed. We also meet during the Grand Finals for that purpose. The issue is complex and we believe such global reflection around clubs and their statutes in eSport is fundamental for our organization and eSport’s future as a whole.

How could it be otherwise ?
We have (by we, understand: Competition organizers, players, teams, sponsors,…) the chance with the ESWC to have a communitarian body which is willing to govern (somewhat) the life of clans in order to stabilize and reinforce them and to strengthen the sporting project as a whole. The “Defending Champion club” rule like the “Team’s nationality” rule or the “period of transfer” rule that applies for France, are necessary.

Without the “Defending Champions Club” rule for example, to whom should the berth go ? to the “Team” ? to 1 player(team Captain) of the team? To the coach/manager ? to 3 players if they stay together ? to all 5 if they stay together ? The latter being a rare exception unfortunately, very few lineups being that stable over the years.

We decided to give the berth to the club/organization for the following reasons:

1. It contributes to give a statute, and a « formal » existence with regards to our organization

2. It reinforces the organizations a year after the other, giving it the opportunity to capitalize on its performances, which we believe is a considerable stake if we want to help with the professionalization of eSports.

3. It is, for us the most fair option to equitably share something that’s achieved through teamwork. (players, coach, managers, organization, sponsors, fans,…)

On a separate note, all of the team based sports federations operate in the same way, which I doubt, is just mere coincidence.

Matthieu Dallon
ESWC President