The International Esports Federation (IESF) has announced that the 15th World Esports (WE) Championships in 2023 will be hosted by Romania in Iași. Romania has previously hosted the WE Championship back in 2013 at the country’s capital Bucharest.

“Esports has the power to empower and unite people. The Flag Handover Ceremony from Bali to Iași is a beautiful representation of this and IESF’s vision of a united World Esports. The culturally rich and youth-centric city is ready to welcome the World Esports Family. Iași has our full confidence and support to deliver an exceptional championship in 2023,” said IESF General Secretary Boban Totovski as quoted by Romania Insider.

In response to the news, Iași deputy mayor Daniel Juravle said, “Iași is a dynamic and full of energy city. We have the youngest population in Romania, a creative youth passionate about everything esports entails. As a city that is the heart of culture and history in Romania and, at the same time, an IT&C hub in remarkable growth, we have all the prerequisites to organize the 15th edition of the WE Championships in a memorable way. We are excited to develop the future of the esports industry together with the International Esports Federation!.”

IESF recently concluded their 14th WE Championships Finals in Bali, Indonesia from 27 November – 9 December. Indian CS:GO team and many individual players from games like Tekken and eFootball participated in the tournament representing India.

The 14th WE Championship also featured new game titles with a women’s featured division. This year’s championships also exceeded the prize pool with a total of $500,000 distributed among the winners. The tournament saw more than 600 players from 105 countries competing in games like CS:GO, Dota 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, eFootball 2023, Tekken 7, and PUBG Mobile.

The Indian CS:GO team performed really well compared to the previous year and defeated teams from Pakistan and Bangladesh to secure their spot. Although the team was not able to win the tournament, they sure did show improvements.

The upcoming WE Championships is expected to attract even more players. An estimate suggests that more than 800 players from 130 nations will partake in the 15th WE Championships according to Romania Insider.