Learn more about one of Scandinavia’s most important cities, Copenhagen, which will host the second and final VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Masters event this year.
Get to know Copenhagen
The premier capital of Northern Europe is Scandinavia’s most fantastic city and the center of the most dynamic region in Europe, the Øresund Region. The city is one of Europe’s oldest capitals, with an exclusive royal touch from the world’s oldest monarchy.
Reputed to be the happiest city in the world, Copenhagen is also known for its canals, superb culinary, and Tivoli Gardens. It is also famous for the Danish language, its community spirit, and beer brewers. When it comes to esports, Denmark has a long history and is one of Europe’s most dominant esports countries in a number of game titles.
“Known as one of the happiest cities in the world (ranking second, beaten only by Helsinki in our research), the Danish capital moves up two rankings from our 2021 healthy cities report, now sitting at third,” the report, published by lenstore.co.uk, found. “Breathing clean air also comes easy in Copenhagen as it has the fifth lowest pollution index of any city analysed – the perfect place for any outdoor exercise.”
VCT Masters 2 Copenhagen will be the first-ever international VALORANT event to be held in a Scandinavian country. It is a welcome break from Reykjavík and Berlin, which have hosted all prior Masters events and Champions in 2021.
Denmark’s Esports History
- It is home to some of the most decorated esports players:
- According to Esports Earnings, more than US$45,329,286 in prize pool has been won by 1,781 Danish esports athletes. Denmark is the only nation in the top 10 earning countries with less than 2,000 recorded players, a reflection of the country’s athletes’ caliber.
- Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s then-Prime Minister, made an on-stage guest speech at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen in 2018 and described Astralis as ‘role models’.
- Ninjas in Pyjamas reportedly spent US$1 million (6.5 million Danish kroner) in a deal to acquire Danish CS:GO superstar Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz. If the report is accurate, the deal would be among some of the most expensive transfers in Counter-Strike history.
Copenhagen’s Esports History
- Copenhagen is home to some of the most renowned esports organizations, including the legendary Copenhagen Wolves, two-time The International champions OG Esports, four-time CS:GO Major champions Astralis, Copenhagen Flames, and North
- Esports organization North was owned by F.C Copenhagen and Danish entertainment company Nordisk Film until it ceased operation owing to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Since 2010, Copenhagen Games has been Denmark’s most anticipated annual esports LAN competition.
- From 2017 through 2021, BLAST organized five high-profile CS:GO events in Copenhagen, Denmark. The BLAST Premier Fall Finals was the most recent.
Danish representation at VALORANT Masters
G2’s Auni “AvovA” Chahade was the only Danish player competing at VCT Masters Reykjavik last April. This was a stark contrast from the most recent Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major, PGL Major Antwerp, when Denmark sent the most representatives (20) – three of the 24 teams even had a full Danish lineup.
Unfortunately, it is confirmed that there will be zero Danish teams or players playing at VCT Masters Copenhagen as Auni “AvovA” Chahade’s G2 Esports and Jakob “JUGi” Hansen’s FOKUS do not make the playoff cut in VCT EMEA Stage 2 Challengers.
2022 VCT Masters Copenhagen
In a now-deleted tweet from the official VALORANT Twitter account for the UK, IE, and Nordics, VCT Masters 2 will become Riot Games’ first attempt to bring the game in front of a large audience. VALORANT has yet to host a major tournament with a crowd due to the coronavirus pandemic, forcing Riot Games to only hold its events behind closed doors for four of its international events so far.
Riot Games will provide more details in the coming weeks regarding its decision to either stage the event behind closed doors for safety reasons or to start a new chapter in the VALORANT esports ecosystem by hosting the game’s first-ever LAN event.
ALSO READ: Riot Games to host next VCT Masters in Copenhagen, Champions in Istanbul
“Our goal is to see our biggest international events played in front of a live audience and both of these cities [Masters Copenhagen and Champions Istanbul] provided clear pathways towards this goal, while also providing the best possible guarantee that all qualified teams will be able to safely attend and compete.” Riot Games stated in the announcement.
The 2022 VCT Masters Copenhagen will take place from June 10-24, with a total of 12-yet-to-be-determined teams from EMEA, Korea, North America, Japan, APAC, Brazil, and Latin America.
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Cover photo courtesy of Nick Karvounis
