WePlay Academy League Season 2 begins

The second season of the league kicks off on Tuesday, with eight teams battling it out for a spot at the LAN finals.

The group stage of the WePlay Academy League will run from September 28-October 9, consisting of two stages. The first will see the teams split into two double-elimination best-of-three groups, with the top team from each group advancing directly to the LAN finals.

Second and third from each group move on to a double-elimination best-of-three bracket, the top two teams from which will also advance to the finals. Fifth-eighth will receive a share of a $12,000 prize pool.

mouz NXT return as reigning champions

This marks a departure from the format that was used for the first WePlay Academy League which featured a double round-robin group where the top three advanced and a single-elimination play-in bracket between fourth-seventh to decide the final LAN spot.

The exact same teams return for the latest iteration of the event, previous champions MOUZ NXT joining fnatic Rising, VP.Prodigy and FURIA Academy in Group B, whilst season 1 runners-up Young Ninjas are placed into Group A alongside Astralis Talent, BIG Academy and NAVI Junior.

The LAN finals will take place in Kyiv from November 12-14, with four teams fighting through a double elimination best-of-three bracket for a place in the best-of-five grand final. As with the first version of the tournament, teams that make it to the finals will be vying for a share of an $88,000 dollar prize pool.

Read more Eugene Shepelev, WePlay: "In the future I want 32 teams and a worldwide [academy] league"

The schedule for the first group stage matchups can be found below:

Tuesday, September 28

17:00 Young Ninjas vs. Astralis Talent
19:30 BIG Academy vs. NAVI Junior

Wednesday, September 29

17:00 MOUZ NXT vs. FURIA Academy
19:30 VP.Prodigy vs. fnatic Rising

Astralis Talent #176 Mads 'vester' VestergaardAlexander 'Altekz' GivskovAndreas 'Void' DietrichsenVictor 'vigg0' BisgaardMikkel 'MistR' Thomsen Time is adjusted to your selected timezone MOUZ NXT #44 Jon 'JDC' de CastroKamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekHubert 'szejn' ŚwiatłyÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásDorian 'xertioN' Berman FURIA Academy #220 Leonardo 'zmb' ToledoGuilherme 'piriajr' BarbosaIcaro 'ninjaZ' CavalariLucas 'decenty' BacelarLucas 'honda' Cano fnatic Rising #90 Kevin 'Kevve' BohlinPeppe 'Peppzor' BorakFrancisco 'kst' FragosoIulian 'regali' HarjăuMatias 'Banjo' Kivistö BIG Academy #102 David 'prosus' HesseAlexander 'glaVed' PletzNiklas 'NIKZEj' BurmeisterNico 'Aqua' KembitzkyLuca 'pr1metapz' Voigt Young Ninjas #48 Anton 'Sapec' PalmgrenErik 'ztr' GustafssonLove 'phzy' SmidebrantOliver 'debo' HallelKalle 'Ro1f' Johansson VP.Prodigy #162 Aleksei 'RuFire' BurakovEvgeny 'r3salt' FrolovArmen 'cheerful' EksuzyanIvan 'lom1k' OvsyanikNikita 'Xerison' Sergeev NAVI Junior #100 Eugene 'Aunkere' KaryatRodion 'fear' SmykIlya 'm0NESY' OsipovDaniil 'headtr1ck' ValitovDanyyl 'synyx' Mazur