What major esports events are happening in the UK? (2024)

Major esports events celebrate the pinnacle of their sport.

With some events taking place in front of thousands of fans, these spectacles take place all over the world. However, in recent years one destination in particular has become something of a hub in the scene — the United Kingdom. 

What events have already occurred in the UK this year, and how many are still planned in 2024? This article takes a look at the biggest esports event in 2024.

For a full rundown of esports’ major events, don’t forget to check out Esports Insider’s events calendar here. 

Kicking off esports’ tour of the UK was Dota 2’s ESL One Birmingham. The midlands-hosted tournament last occurred in 2019, with its 2020 edition later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The event was well-received by Dota 2 spectators, both online and at the event, and became the 7th highest viewed ESL One Dota 2 event recording 328,345 viewers according to Esports Charts. This is, however, slightly behind ESL One Birmingham 2029 by just over 30,000 viewers. The $1m tournament was ultimately won by Saudi Arabian esports organisation Team Falcons.

Moving up north, tournament operator BLAST brought the Rainbow Six Siege esports circuit to Manchester for its latest major. A total of 20 teams took the trip to compete for $750,000 in prize money. This event was the first-ever R6 Major to take place in the UK, with the game’s last large-scale Rainbow Six event in the country being Leicester’s Pro League Year 1 Season 2 Finals in 2016.

In another first, the Rainbow Six ecosystem also saw the debut of a new Major winner. North American organisation beastcoast walked out of the BEC Arena victorious after beating Six Jönköping Major 2022 winners Team BDS. Out of eight R6 Majors, the Manchester event is Rainbow Six’s fourth most popular Major via peak viewership (162,094).

Quickly following the Rainbow Six Major in Manchester was the Halo Championship Series (HCS) Major in London, the first of many events that will grace the city’s capital this year. 

Hosted by Quadrant, a UK esports brand founded by Formula 1’s Lando Norris, HCS’ second major of the 2024 season took place inside the iconic Twickenham Stadium. North American esports organisation FaZe Clan won the event, securing a lion’s share of its $250,00 prize pool as a result.

Taking place June 13th at BOXPARK Wembley, ESI London one of Esports Insider’s major B2B esports conferences. Since its inception in 2018, the conference has gathered some of esports’ biggest stakeholders to network, watch industry-related panels and discuss the latest trends in the scene. Tickets are still available now!

Alongside ESI London 2024, Esports Insider is introducing ‘An Evening With’, a community event that this year will celebrate the history of Counter-Strike esports with legendary player Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund. Tickets for this event are also available here.

Disclaimer: ESI London is owned and operated by Esports Insider.

Taking place directly after ESI London is Counter Strike’s BLAST Premier: Spring Final, taking place at the OVO Arena in Wembley, London. Part of BLAST’s significant push into the UK, the Spring Finals features a $425,000 prize pool with established teams such as Astralis, NAVI, FaZe Clan and Team Vitality duking it out. Alongside the prize pool, the winner of the tournament will also qualify for BLAST Premier’s World Final in November. 

Interestingly, the last major UK Counter-Strike event was the 2018 FACEIT Major London. The winner of that event — Astralis. 

Returning to London’s Copperbox Arena from June 20th-23rd is Rocket League’s second RLCS Major of 2024. After a successful 2022 event in the same venue, which is currently the seventh-highest viewed Rocket League event (280,226 peak viewers), the RLCS returns to the UK’s capital with more momentum than ever before. It marks the third major Rocket League LAN event in London following the initial RLCS Season 5 Finals in 2018, affectionately known as LANdon and widely regarded by the community as a particularly memorable event.

Currently, the top three most viewed Rocket League esports events are from 2024 and 2023, with last year’s World Championship garnering over 450,000 viewers. As such there is a lot of anticipation for RLCS’ return to London.

Like the Rainbow Six and Counter-Strike events mentioned prior, BLAST is once again behind the tournament’s operations. In January 2024, the tournament operator struck a multi-year deal with Epic Games to operate the RLCS.

With Europe playing host to this year’s League of Legends World Championship, London has once again attracted another esports event to the capital. In Norvember, it’ll play host to one of esports’ biggest matches — the tournament’s Grand Finals.

Taking place at The O2 Arena, the League of Legends World Championship 2024 Finals is the culmination of Riot Games’ month-long plus event. Before reaching the UK’s capital, teams will battle it out in Berlin’s Riot Games Arena (Play-Ins and Swiss Stage) and Paris’ Adidas Arena (quarter finals and semi finals). 

Perhaps surprisingly, this is the second year in a row that League of Legends is hosting a major event in the UK, with last year’s Mid Season Invitational taking place at the Copperbox Arena. 

The final major event taking place in the UK is the PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2024. Whilst announced in December 2023, little is still known about the event’s exact whereabouts. Nevertheless, this is the first major PUBG Mobile esports tournament ever in the UK, and the first since 2019’s PUBG Mobile Club Open – Spring Split Global Finals that has appeared in Western Europe.

The event is the culmination of PUBG Mobile’s esports season, with its two other international events taking place in Brazil and Saudi Arabia.