Gaming
esports
Where to find competitive games in South Africa?
The South African esports scene is thriving. Tournaments and competitions are happening every month… but how do you find out about them? We've done the work for:
Many players interested in taking their gaming to the next level and measuring up against other people to see where they stand competitively have no idea where to get started. We chatted to some professional players across various titles currently representing Goliath Gaming, to find out where exactly South African gamers need to go if they want to compete:
Each competitive title has its own unique community and, with that community, its own unique channels for communicating events or opportunities to compete.
01
EA Sports FC 24
There’s a good chance you’re still calling this game FIFA… and we get it. EA Sports FC 24 is still one of the most popular competitive titles in South Africa. Hamza Moosa and Aqil “BloodKinG_1801” Sampath are two competitive players who recently signed with Goliath Gaming after participating in the esports organisation’s 2023 Academy programme. They found out about the academy through Goliath Gaming’s social media and say the best place to find out about tournaments or find other people to play is definitely various platforms like Instagram and X (previously known as Twitter).
Hamza says if you’re looking to enter friendly competitions be sure to follow Mettlestate and ACGL, both are local tournament organisers.
Michelle Brondani, one of the managers and founders of Goliath Gaming says for local EA Sports FC tournaments players should follow VS Gaming who are the leading tournament organisation for these events locally. He says competing in these tournaments and leagues will assist in increasing the skill level of the player and help them get noticed by teams looking to sign players.
Brondani says players need to think bigger than South Africa, “for international opportunities, I would suggest following FIFAe and EAFC on X.com as most local teams look at players who specifically compete on a global level. Doing well in these international qualifiers will help you reach the top faster than any other possible route.
Goliath Gaming has quite a few community tournaments coming up for EA FC24, Street Fighter 7 and Tekken 8 - so keep a close eye on our socials.”
Street Fighter
He also suggests fighting game players who want to measure themselves against other gamers need to watch a lot of Youtube: “Each region host a lot of tournaments so watching a lot of tournaments online will help elevate your skill.”
Red Bull Kumite SA Qualifier
© Tyrone Bradley / Red Bull Content Pool
02
Fortnite
If the popular battle royale is your jam then you definitely want to find a way to join the competitive South African community. Cameron “Reapsii” Kelly is one of South Africa’s top competitive Fortnute players and says if you want to get into the competitive scene then discord is the best place for you to go. He also says ACGL, one of the tournament organisers, is the perfect starting ground for new players because they always have events you can practise in, while Mettlestate, another tournament organiser, run bi-weekly events and EPS host events every month as well.
The FNZA Hub discord is the best place to start. It is run by the players and links all the events for everyone. Plus they’ll be able to help you with advice on getting started in competitive Fortnite.
03
Valorant
Valorant is rising in popularity and there is no doubt that the South African competitive scene is growing. Goliath Gaming’s Travis Vercueil had a fantastic showing at the Red Bull Campus Clutch South African qualifiers last year and he shared some advice for aspiring Valorant pros:
“I would say start grinding ranked, try to get to immortal or ascendant and make a name for yourself in ranked as the top players grind this and that would be how you start to build connections with the top players which makes it easier to get involved in a team and then, from there, you can compete in tournaments with said team or even scrims to test your skill.”
Travis also says there is a VALZA discord where events, tournaments and community news is posted.
Competitive Gaming In South Africa
© Mpumelelo Macu / Red Bull Content Pool
04
Counter-Strike
The South African Counter-Strike scene has been thriving for many years but, for players wanting to move into a competitive setting, it can be pretty difficult to find out what is happening or where to test your skills. Thulani “Thulz” Sishi, an ex-competitive player says there are a few sources of information on where to find information but they’re not centralised yet. So you’ll need to keep an eye out on HLTV.org for international tournaments and then make sure you’ve signed up to Faceit, a platform that includes leagues and a hub. Faceit has leagues hosted by ESEA each season and VS Masters, the biggest local CS event, has their league on the platform. Faceit also includes mini tournaments which teams can compete in. You can find out more here.
