The League of Legends national championship is the annual event of the Israeli LoL community, hosted by LoL Israel, in association with the IESA. This event is the largest e-Sport tournament in the nation, featuring the top teams in a semi-group stage before they venture into the final event on August 19th, to fight for the national cup and $5,500 in prizing.
The Israeli LoL championship was inaugurated in 2012, as part of the 3rd “e-Sports national championships” event, hosted in Hod Hasharon city by the Israeli e-Sports Association. With the growth of the community in Israel, the event of 2013 was already an independent one, where the winners traveled to Romania, to participate in IeSF 2013 World Championship. 2014 marked the first major success where the finals were hosted in a LAN event with a fully-sold auditorium of fans cheering for their favorites.
This year, the event is already recognized as the largest and most prestige e-Sport event in Israel, with companies such as Asus and the Republic of Gamers taking part as sponsors, along with Logitech and AOC Gaming.
Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends, is also supporting the event with prizing for the players.
“This is by far the largest thing we’ve done,” says Ido Brosh, vice-chairman of the IESA and main event organizer, and adds: “this event is huge for both us [the organizers] and all of the Israeli LoL community, and we’re striving to do the best work we can in order to become even larger and even better in the next years to come.”
E-Sport is still a growing phenomenon in Israel, and while the gaming community is growing tremendously in the country in recent years, it still has a way to go before reaching the global stage. The IESA is working with the local governmental bodies to promote the branch as a recognized sport, and to create a national league supported by the state. “This event is a living proof that the Israeli e-Sports community has a lot to offer,” says IESA chairman, Nitzan Dikshtein, “we will keep endeavor to promote e-Sports beyond cyberspace to become a recognized sports and leisure cultural activity in our home.”
