The International 10 Is Likely to be Relocated and Rescheduled

Valve have announced that they might not be able to host The International 10 in Stockholm this August. There is still a chance that the event will take place as planned, however the organizers are also considering rescheduling and relocating the event.

According to VALVE’s latest blog post, recently the Swedish Sports Federation voted against including esports into the sports federation. For this reason, The International 10 can not be qualified as an elite sporting event – a status needed to ensure that all players and staff involved with the event can get their visas.

VALVE sent a request to the Swedish Minister of the Interior to reclassify TI10 as an elite sporting event, however the request was immediately denied. The company filed an appeal to the Swedish government on June 9, however as of now the officials are unable to offer a resolution.

Thus, currently the organizers are looking for possible alternatives elsewhere in Europe with a goal to conduct the event this year. Even if the Swedish government will not be able to accommodate TI10 this August, the company is confident that The International 10 will still take place this year.

Despite uncertainty with the main event, the qualifiers will still be held as planned, starting tomorrow in South America and Europe and in the coming weeks in other regions. Besides that, later this week Valve will launch a new in-game event Nemestice.

Initially The International 10 was supposed to take place in August of 2020 in Stockholm, Sweden, however the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eventually the event was rescheduled for August 5th – 15th, 2021, with Avicii Arena being the venue. The tournament’s prize pool slightly exceeds $40M.