London’s Gfinity Arena has been announced as the host venue for the NBA 2K League European Invitational. It will be the league’s first-ever qualifying event to take place in Europe.
The event will take place Dec. 13–14 and feature 20 of the best 2K players from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Turkey and the U.K. They will compete for a chance to become eligible for the 2020 NBA 2K League Draft. Players will compete in a double-elimination tournament and partake in interviews with league reps and team managers. The tournament will be livestreamed on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels.
The esports league is entering its third season in 2020. Last year’s draft featured a pool of 190 draft-eligible players, with 22 being from outside the U.S. (up from the nine international gamers that were draft-eligible in the inaugural 2018 draft). In 2019, Chiquita Evans became the first female player drafted into the NBA 2K League.
In September, the league revealed it was welcoming a team from Shanghai for the 2020 season. It will be the league’s first team to not be associated with an NBA franchise, and the 23rd team overall to join the esports league.
“We’re going to have teams eventually from Team Beijing play Team Dehli play Team London against the Celtics and create truly global competition,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said in 2018 before the 2K league’s inaugural season.
