International Esports Federation (IESF) held its international referee workshop in Busan, South Korea, on 12 to 14 December 2018.

Such Referee Workshop was sponsored by Busan Metropolitan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency (BIPA). The continued support of both the Busan Metropolitan City and BIPA is ensuring the long-term sustainability of Esports as a fully accredited sporting code.

The International Referee Workshop was attended by eight delegates from eight countries. Among the delegates was the notable Dr. Pei-Chi Chung (Chinese University of Hong Kong) as well as Markus Koskivirta (Finland) Jeroen den Hartog (Netherlands), Meysam Hosseini (Iran), Lukas Jakob (Switzerland), Stanley Tia (Indonesia), Sungwon Lee (Korea), and Duc Hoang Nguyen (Vietnam).

During the grueling workshop, many decisions were taken which shall result in a leaner and more efficacious Referee Academy that will deliver a prestigious Referee Course. IESF sees such Referee Course as an integral part of the continued development of Esports in which greater emphasis is placed on upward development of technical officials as well as the protection of the rights of all esports athletes.

The next step is for all the findings and deliberations to be codified for future training.

International Esports Federation (IESF) shall be commencing its international referee workshop in Busan, South Korea, on 12 December 2018.

Such Referee Workshop is sponsored by Busan Metropolitan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency (BIPA). The continued support of both the Busan Metropolitan City and BIPA is ensuring the long-term sustainability of Esports as a fully accredited sporting code.

The International Referee Workshop shall investigate ways to improve and develop the existing Referee Course. IESF sees such Referee Course as an integral part of the continued development of Esports in which greater emphasis is placed on upward development of technical officials as well as the protection of the rights of all esports athletes.

IESF president, Colin Webster, has expressed his pleasure in seeing that the delegates will provide important insight into the existing course as well as into how such course may be improved upon.

• Colin Webster Elected as New President of IESF
• 6 Members accepted as Full Members of IESF

The 2018 IESF General Meeting (GM) took place on November 10 th at the ‘TESL Arena’ in
Kaohsiung during the 10 th Esports World Championship (WC).

Colin Webster, former IESF Board Member and General Secretary of Mind Sports South Africa, was
elected as the new President of IESF to serve the role for the remaining term of presidency, which is
until 2019 GM. Mr. Colin Webster has been with the IESF Board since 2013, and has been actively
involved in promoting esports as a fully accredited sport, conducting dialogues with various
traditional sports stakeholders.

With growing numbers of Esports National Federations every year, six full membership applicants
have also joined IESF through the General Meeting: Japan (Japan eSports Union), Mexico (Mexican
eSport Association), New Zealand (New Zealand eSports Federation), Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabian
Federation for Electronic & Intellectual Sport), Slovakia (Slovakia Electronic Sports Association),
and United States of America (United States eSports Federation).

With only few days left until the opening ceremony, the Group draw of each discipline (LoL, CS:GO, Tekken 7) has been finalized. Broadcasted live on the official IESF Twitch and YouTube channel, the full footage can be viewed online.

Below are the draw results of each country.

Counter Strike: Global Offensive

Group A: Australia, Serbia, Georgia, Nepal

Group B: Israel, Denmark, Macedonia, Namibia

Group C: Philippines, India, Lebanon

Group D: Sweden, Portugal, Iran

Group E: Russia, Japan, South Africa

Group F: Romania, Thailand, Switzerland

Group G: Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, Macau

Group H: Finland, Vietnam, Sri Lanka

League of Legends

Group A: Thailand, Costa Rica, Serbia, Russia

Group B: Republic of Korea, Italy, Macau, Sri Lanka

Group C: South Africa, Israel, Denmark

Group D: Philippines, Netherlands, Egypt

Group E: Mexico, Chinese Taipei, Georgia

Group F: Namibia, Saudi Arabia, Finland

Group G: Malaysia, Iran, Australia

Group H: Romania, Sweden, Switzerland

Tekken 7

Group A: Egypt, Tunisia, Republic of Korea, Italy

Group B: Namibia, Israel, Thailand, Sweden

Group C: Maldives, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam

Group D: Finland, Lebanon, Portugal, Iran

Group E: Chinese Taipei, Philippines, South Africa

Group F: Romania, Malaysia, Macau, New Zealand

Group G: Switzerland, Austria, Russia, India

Group H: Australia, Sri Lanka, Georgia, Serbia

Official broadcasting of the event will start from 19:00 on November 9^th with the opening ceremony. International Broadcast can be viewed on YouTube and Twitch channel of IESF.

TWITCH: (https://www.youtube.com/iesfinternationalesportsfederation)

YOUTUBE:  (https://www.twitch.tv/iesf_tv).

More information on the World Championships, click here.

 42 Nations, 427 National Delegation & Athletes
 Hosted in Kaohsiung Arena, Kaohsiung city

With only 37 days left on the calendar to IESF’s 10 th Esports World Championship, the International
Esports Federation (IESF) hereby announces the “Final Entry” for such Esports World Championship.
A Total of 42 countries and 427 participants making up the various National Delegations will gather
at Kaohsiung city to compete in the 3 official titles, being; League of Legends(LOL), Counter Strike :
Global Offensive (CS:GO), and Tekken 7.
IESF’s 10 th Esports World Championship 2018 will be held from 6 th to 13 th in November 2018. The
group drawing ceremony will be conducted on November 8 th where each team captain will participate
in the draw in which the groups will be determined.
As the largest international esports tournament where athletes represent participating nations, IESF’s
10 th Esports World Championships, with great support from Kaohsiung City and CTESA (Chinese

Taipei Esports Association) is confident and ready to host all esports athletes from around the world
in the most spectacular event to date.
IESF’s Esports World Championship is hosted annually through the official “Host City Bidding
Process” where the bid documents are distributed to all cities willing to host the event.
Official matches will be held from 9 th to 11 th in November and more information of the can be found
on the official website:
2018 Esports World Championships: www.2018iesf-wc.com.tw/en .
IESF Official Website: www.ie-sf.org

International Esports Federation (IESF) here by announces the registration for the Global Esports Executive Summit (GEES). Coming to its 3^rd edition, GEES is scheduled to take place in Busan, South Korea, for the second consecutive year, to be held from November 13^th to 15^th.

As the open-gathering for esports stakeholders since 2016, GEES has been the location to share ideas, create synergies, and most of all, to reach a mutual consensus for holistic esports development. Last year, 186 key decision makers from National Esports Federations, Publishers, Developers, Esports Media and others took part in GEES from 46 nations.

GEES this year will be focusing on enhancing dialogues between esports stakeholders, and to openly discuss open issues in esports. The agenda in 2018 include:

• Esports Governance – publisher and federation perspective of Esports world and how both parties can collaborate for Esports ecosystem development
• Gaming Disorder – to verify what gaming disorder is and how Esports can support
• Esports Profit Model – comparison between Esports and game industry and how Esports stakeholders can create sustainable profit model and expand the market
• Esports Administration – how government and administration can support the growth of esports

This year’s GEES will be introduced with new features of GEES, integrating the Esports Academic Seminar as a parallel program, sharing the latest academic research in the esports industry.  Earlier this month IESF has announced its vision of the Global Esports R&D Center to support Esports researches through the Academic Research Center

Registration for GEES will be conducted via the official website where more information of can also be found here