26 KIA E Blacks players will represent New Zealand this November after a qualifying campaign that smashed all expectations.
New Zealand will send 26 players to compete across eight titles at the inaugural Esports Nations Cup this November, after a qualifying campaign that far exceeded the worlds expectations.
NZ Esports, the national sporting body for Esports, began the campaign targeting qualification in two of the 16 titles being contested. It finished with eight: Chess, EA Sports FC, Rocket League, Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege, Trackmania, League of Legends and Apex Legends.
The Esports Nations Cup is a country-versus-country competition with a $34 million NZD prize pool, that brings multiple esports titles together under one national-team format. Much like the Olympics or the Commonwealth games, countries field different players and teams across individual disciplines, each competing under their national flag.
“New Zealand wasn’t even on the radar for many of these games, listening to the pre-game commentators, they were discussing Australia, Japan, India, Philippines, they barely knew we existed. But we knew what we were about to change their tune.” NZ Esports CEO Jonathan Jansen said.
“Our players kept proving that none of that decides the result once the game starts.”
New Zealand earned its places through a combination of international qualification tournaments and direct invitations. Valorant, Trackmania, League of Legends, Apex Legends and Chess qualified through competitive international pathways, while Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege and one of New Zealand’s EA Sports FC representatives received direct invitations.
The Valorant campaign was one of the standouts. The KIA E Blacks entered as outsiders against established Asia-Pacific teams and secured their place against opposition including Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia. In League of Legends, the team went undefeated through its qualifiers, a result nobody had anticipated.
One of the Valorant players involved was competing in New Zealand’s school esports league a year earlier, before trialling for the KIA E Blacks this year and playing a key role in qualification.
“That is the kind of story we want young New Zealanders to see. There is now a genuine pathway from playing at school, to domestic competition, to wearing the black jersey,” Jansen said.
Many of the players selected already compete professionally or semi-professionally for organisations around the world. NZ Esports President Conor English said the national-team environment carries a different significance.
“These players spend much of the year competing for clubs and organisations, often based overseas. This is their opportunity to represent home,” English said.
“People do not need to understand every game to understand that. They have trained, competed internationally, dealt with pressure and earned the right to represent New Zealand against the best in the world. We want New Zealanders to get behind them in exactly the same way we support Kiwis representing the country in any other international competition.”
NZ Esports has now committed $130,000 NZD of funding across the national programme to give the eight qualified squads specialist coaching and stronger international practice environments before November. New Zealand’s geographic isolation presents a particular challenge at the elite level, where regular practice against high-level international opposition can be critical. This commitment is self-funded by NZ Esports as Sport New Zealand and High-Performance Sport did not financially contribute.
“Not everyone in New Zealand gets esports. Especially the Rugby generation, but this is bigger than that,” Jansen said.
“Learn their names. Follow the teams. Watch them compete. Celebrate when they win and stand behind them when things get tough. They are New Zealand’s team, they are walking onto one of the biggest stages in the world, and they have earned the country’s support.”
