The VR League returns to the United Kingdom this weekend, July 14-15th with the Echo Arena Invitational, presented by Oculus, Intel and ESL in support of the Special Olympics at fb.com/watchVRLeague, starting at 11:30 PST/20:30 CEST

Eight of the world’s best teams will be at the ESL Studios in Leicester to battle it out for their share of the $15,000 prize pool and the ever-important bragging rights of being the best Echo Arena team ahead of Oculus Connect 5.

While the Echo Arena competition has had several events both on and offline throughout seasons 1 and 2, this will be the first time several of these teams and teammates will be meeting in person.

Let’s get to know the invited teams! From Europe:

And from North America:

The invitation of season 1 Echo Arena champions Team ec.LiP.se comes as no surprise after a dominant performance in both Echo Arena’s premiere season and once again in season 2. We also see familiar faces from BLAST!, AfterShock and Team Gravity out of Europe - each of these teams have consistently maintained a high level of play throughout Echo Arena’s competitive lifespan, but once again roster changes have occurred. ESL One Hamburg 2017 champions Jacks are no more - as Affenterror and Boop have moved to BLAST! alongside LoneGecko, and Slin is now playing with AfterShock.

Team Gravity on the other hand has maintained a consistent roster of MartinThe3rd, VRJersey and Viatrex, sweeping several of the EU cups throughout season 2 and winning the Stage 1 finals.

Boost, Eleven Point Five, MetaMercs and Omegators are all relative newcomers to the Echo Arena competitive scene. While some of the players competed in Season 1, these new rosters are coming to the Echo Arena Invitational with something to prove: Can they hang with the best? Their online success surely would suggest so, as each of these teams are consistently champions, finalists or semi-finalists in the weekly cups.

Up for grabs at the Echo Arena Invitational is a $15,000 USD prize pool for each of the 3-man squads to split. Here’s how it’s broken down:

The live stream begins at 11:30AM PST / 20:30PM CEST on both Saturday and Sunday, July 14th-15th over at fb.com/watchVRLeague.

We’ll be providing live updates and coverage throughout the tournament on social media, so stay locked on the VR League Facebook and Twitter channels for polls, updates, on-site content and more! We’ll also be launching a giveaway of 2 more Oculus Rift kits this weekend, so be sure to look out for that on social media.

We’ll see you this weekend for the Echo Arena Invitational, and good luck to all competitors!