First all-women Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament at Gamers Without Borders

RIYADH: The first all-women Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) tournament at Gamers Without Borders, the world’s largest charitable esports event, will propel women’s involvement in esports, organizers of the event said. 

Six teams — Nigma Galaxy, BIG Equipa, NAVI Javelins, G2 Oya, 9 Pandas Fearless, and Ninjas in Pyjamas — are battling it out in a single elimination bracket from Thursday until Saturday for a humanitarian aid prize pool of $2.5 million. 

Held virtually by the Saudi Esports Federation, the prize pool from CS:GO at GWB will be donated to humanitarian aid partners Direct Relief, IMC, UNICEF, King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, World Food Programme and UNHCR. All of these organizations are improving the lives of women in need across the globe. 

With figures issued last year by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology showing 48 percent of the country’s gamers are female, the inaugural tournament at GWB spotlights the rise of women across all sections of the industry. 

Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, chairman of the Saudi Esports Federation, said: “The Saudi Esports Federation is delighted to host the first all-women Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament at Gamers Without Borders, which will play a significant role in furthering women’s involvement in esports. Our move to host the event is the latest step in numerous initiatives to ensure that women are equally represented across the esports ecosystem. 

“Seeing the best women players from the best teams in the world compete at Gamers Without Borders can only help in spurring women across Saudi Arabia and beyond to pursue their gaming passions. Through the assistance of our humanitarian aid