OWCS Summary Guide 2025

Overwatch Champions Series 2025 Stage 1 consists of 5 phases. Open Qualifier, Regular Season, Playoff, Promotion/Relegation and a Live Event to wrap up the stage. 

An article regarding specifics on how to link your Blizzard account can be found here, and all other Overwatch 2 articles, such as how to play matches on the platform and signing up for tournaments can be found here 

OWCS 2025 Stage 1 - Open Qualifier

  • Dates
    • Takes place from January 16-19, 2025
  • Format
    • Open registration, 
    • Four Days of play
    • Two-phase tournament
      • Phase 1: Swiss
        • 6 rounds of Swiss Play 
        • FT2, Map vetoes prior to Map 1 & no Hero Bans
      • Phase 2: Bracket  
        • 16 teams, Double Elimination
        • Play until Top 6 for NA and Top 5 for EMEA
        • FT3, Loser’s Pick and Hero Bans
  • Prizing
    • Top 6 teams from NA and Top 5 teams from EMEA qualify to theStage 1 Regular Season along with the Partner Teams.

Haven't qualified for OWCS?
You can work your way up through the FACEIT League! Teams will qualify for OWCS by moving up the FACEIT League divisions. Each week, you compete against similarly skilled teams in officials that can be rescheduled around your practice, personal commitments, and other competitions.

For more information, please see https://www.faceit.com/en/news/OWCS2025 

OWCS 2025 Stage 1 - Regular Season

  • Dates
    • Takes place from January 31- February 23rd, 2025
  • Participants
    • 8 Total Teams
      • All Partner Teams
      • Top Teams from Open Qualifier - Bracket
  • Format
    • Single Round Robin
    • All matches in the round robin will be first-to-three (FT3)
    • The Regular Season occurs over the course of 4 weekends and 12 days of competition
    • Teams will receive their full round robin schedule of their matchups each week in advance
  • Advancement
    • The top 6 Teams from the Stage 1 Regular Season will advance to the Playoffs
    • The top 6 Teams from the Stage 1 Regular Season will also automatically advance to Stage 2 Regular Season
    • The bottom 2 Teams from the Stage 1 Regular Season will demote to Stage 1 Promotion/Relegation 
      • Promotion/Relegation will be against the top teams from that region’s FACEIT League Season 4  - Masters Series: Playoffs

OWCS 2025 Stage 1 - Playoffs

  • Dates
    • Takes place from March 1st - March 9th, 2025
  • Participants
    • 6 Total Teams 
    • Top 6 Teams from Regular Season
  • Format
    • Double Elimination Bracket
    • The Playoffs occurs over the course of 2 weekends and 4 days of competition
  • Advancement
    • Top Teams advance to Live Event
    • The number of Teams advancing from each Region’s Playoffs to the Live Event will be specified at a later date

OWCS 2025 Stage 1 - Promotion/Relegation

  • Dates
    • Takes place April 13th, 2025
  • Participants
    • 4 Total Teams 
    • Bottom 2 Teams from Regular Season
    • Top 2 Teams from FACEIT League Season 4 - Master Series: Playoffs
  • Format
    • Double Elimination Bracket
    • All matches in Promotion/Relegation will be first-to-three (FT3)
    • The Bracket will be played until the Top 2 advancing teams are determined
  • Advancement
    • Top 2 Teams will advance to Stage 2 Regular Season, joining the Top 6 Teams from Stage 1 Regular Season
    • Bottom 2 Teams will relegate out of OWCS

OWCS 2025 Stage 1 - Live Event

The dates and format for the Stage 1 Live Event will be announced at a later date.

Detailed summary of the dates for the OWCS 2025 - Stage 1

OWCS NA/EMEA Stage 1

  • Regular Season
    • Time
      • EMEA 9:00AM PT | 17:00 UTC
      • NA 1:00 PM PT | 21:00 UTC
    • Dates
      • January 31st  
      • February 1st
      • February 2nd
      • February 7th
      • February 8th
      • February 9th
      • February 14th
      • February 15th
      • February 16th
      • February 21st
      • February 22nd
      • February 23rd
  • Playoffs
    • Time
      • EMEA 9:00AM PT | 17:00 UTC
      • NA 1:00 PM PT | 21:00 UTC
    • Dates
      • March 1st
      • March 2nd
      • March 8th
      • March 9th
  • Promotion/Relegation
    • Time
      • EMEA 9:00AM PT | 17:00 UTC
      • NA 1:00 PM PT | 21:00 UTC
    • Dates
      • April 13th
  • Live Event
    • To be confirmed at a later date

OWCS Regions:

OWCS competition will be divided across fourmajor regions: North America (NA), Europe, Middle East, & North Africa (EMEA), Asia, and China. 

Each region has a list of jurisdictions considered eligible to play for that region. If you’re a legal resident of one of those jurisdictions, you are considered eligible to play in that region as a resident player. If you’re not from one of that region’s jurisdictions, you can still play in that region as a non-resident player. 

When constructing your team to participate in OWCS, please note that there are a few limitations when constructing your roster:

  • Rosters may have a maximum of 7 players and 1 coach
  • All players must be at least 17 years of age
  • Master 1 requirement
  • Rosters may have a maximum of 2 non-resident players across OWCS regions
  • All players on a given roster must have an account in good standing on FACEIT , Overwatch 2, & Blizzard Entertainment

For more specifics on eligibility rules, feel free to consult the list below.

  1. (a) Region 1 (North America): Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Oman, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, United States, Uruguay, the Bahamas, Panama, and Venezuela;
  2. (b) Region 2 (EMEA): Algeria, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Macedonia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom;
  3. (c) Region 3 (Asia):
    1. Subregion 1 (Korea): Republic of Korea
    2. Subregion 2 (Japan): Japan
    3. Subregion 3 (Pacific): Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, The   Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand
  4. (d) Region 4 (China): China

Full info and announcements can be found in the FACEIT blog post as well as the Competitive Details blogspot.

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