It’s here! The long anticipated 2017 Overwatch World Cup has begun. Qualified teams will battle it out until the very best teams in the world fill the eight spots in the Overwatch World Cup playoffs. The real action will take place at Blizzcon in November but it definitely won’t be a boring wait until then. You can look forward to watching the very best Overwatch matches in the world for the next few months.

This year, Blizzard is aiming higher and promises that everything will be bigger and better. You can expect to see more countries, more games and more live events. The Overwatch World Cup 2016 was a huge success, especially when taken into account that it only debuted last year. Competitors from more than 50 countries competed for a spot and over 3 million votes were cast to select rosters. South Korea became the world champion and Winston prodigy Miro was named the tournament MVP. This year’s 2018 Overwatch World Cup promises to deliver even more spectacular action, not to mention the now amazing Overwatch League that’s airing right now!

The 2017 World Cup has four phases with an exciting new addition: Life qualifiers around the world! The first phase established country participation. The skill ratings of the top 100 players from every country determined each country’s average rating. Phase Two used those average ratings to identify which 32 countries from around the world have the most skilled players. These countries moved on to the live qualifiers – they stage that we are currently in. The groups are battling in groups of eight for a chance to compete on the BlizzCon 2017 stage. The third phase, live qualifiers, are providing loads of nail-biting action before the World Cup moves on to its final phase: the Blizzcon finals.

The Overwatch World Cup 2017 Top 32 Countries

• Group A: China, Norway, Hong Kong and Romania
• Group B: France, Thailand, Denmark, Argentina
• Group C: Sweden, Australia, Portugal, Italy
• Group D: Japan, Spain, Finland, Vietnam
• Group E: South Korea, Netherlands, Poland, Austria
• Group F: Canada, Russia, Singapore, Turkey
• Group G: USA, Chinese Taipei, Brazil, New Zealand
• Group H: United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Belgium

The first of the four Group Stage events took place in China on the weekend of 14 – 16 July where groups A and B battled it out to see what country is going to Blizzcon. China and France secured their tickets.

The group C and D qualifiers took place in Sydney, Australia on the weekend of 21 – 23 July. Sweden and Australia went through to the finals.

The next round of the group stage will be held on 4 – 6 August in Poland where groups E and F will give it their all for a chance to go through to the next rounds.

The final group stage of the Overwatch World Cup 2018 will take place in Los Angeles in the USA on the weekend of 11 to 13 August. Groups G and H will be competing and fans from across the world are looking forward to the nail biting action that is expected.

Four of the eight places in the Overwatch World Cup 2018 has already been filled while we are waiting in anticipation to see who will be going to Blizzcon in November to march up to China, France, Sweden and Australia. Last year, South Korea took home the Cup, but will they be able to defend their title this year? Will they even make it to the finals?

The final phase of the Overwatch World Cup 2017 will take place on the 3rd and 4th of November in Anaheim, USA at the Blizzcon headquarters.

Whether you are a major ow Boosting fan or not, this World Cup is worth watching as it seems like it is in the process of making history. The Overwatch World Cup 2016 has mainly been an online event, much as most other esports around the globe. This year, Blizzcon’s strategy of hosting live Group Stage qualifiers on four different continents may just be an early stage experiment of bringing esports out of cyberspace and into the real world.

Whatever your reason for watching, the search for the world’s strongest Overwatch nation is here! Follow all the action and wave your flag for your homeland, your favourite player or just for the action-packed fun of it.