French President Emmanuel Macron has been re-elected on Sunday, April 25, 2022; and his promise of three major esports tournaments (among other promises) is in effect.
In a recent interview with The Big Whale, Mr. Macron promised that the following would happen in 2024, the same year as the Summer Olympics:
- A Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major
- Dota 2’s The International
- League of Legends World Championship
The promise isn’t far-fetched based on previous events, as 2019 served as a precedent for all three esports to hold events in the country:
- Dota 2 – MDL’s Disneyland® Paris Major was held in May 2019
- CS:GO – the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals took place in June 2019 at Montpellier
- LoL – Paris hosted the 2019 World Championship Finals on Nov. 10, 2019
However, the world has changed since then due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the world is barely climbing back from the worst of it. Also, since then, France has hosted no major tournament.
Although Mr. Macron may deliver on his promise if the French government, tournament organizers, and Valve convene quickly on holding events, the situation may be different regarding League of Legends.
Indeed, the 2021 World Championship took place in Reykjavik, Iceland—in Europe, and Riot do not have a habit of holding tournaments in the same region in quick succession.
As such, there should be no surprise if Mr. Macron fails on this promise, making it another case of a broken promise by an electoral candidate. But if he succeeds, Team Vitality would be hard-pressed to make it to the top tournaments in League of Legends and in CS:GO; and PSG.LGD in TI.
