The eSports Federation of Ukraine announced Friday that it would have limited participation in the annual championship for European federations, the European Esports Championship 2025, and a qualifier for the IESF World Esports Championship 2025.
In a statement issued on Telegram, the organization said that it would skip competitions in “Dota 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (women) and PUBG Mobile at the EES.” The decision to not participate in these disciplines stems from the Belarus national team being allowed to play under its national flag, which the organization says “contradicts the official position of the Federation of eSports of Ukraine and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian team will be competing in Counter-Strike 2 as the Belarusian team did not qualify for the competition.
A translated version of its official statement (found here) is as follows:
Official statement of the eSports Federation of Ukraine
The eSports Federation of Ukraine informs about the refusal of the participation of the national teams of Ukraine in the disciplines of Dota 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (women) and PUBG Mobile at the EES, which is held as part of the IESF WEC 2025.
This decision was made in connection with the fact that the International Federation of eSports allowed the participation of the Belarus national team under the national flag, which contradicts the official position of the Federation of eSports of Ukraine and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
We have repeatedly appealed to the International eSports Federation to apply the principle of neutral status to representatives of countries associated with armed aggression against Ukraine, but no compromise was reached at this stage.
At the same time, the Federation confirms the participation of the Ukrainian national team in Counter-Strike 2, as the Belarusian team did not qualify for the competition in this discipline.
We regret that we are forced to take such a step, but we remain committed to the values that we defend both in the international arena and within the national space.
We thank the Ukrainian eSports community for their understanding and support.
eSports Federation of Ukraine’s strong public objection to competing against the Belarus national team stems from the Belarus’ government’s support of Russia and its military actions against Ukraine. In addition to its strong support of Russia’s side of the war with Ukraine, Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has arrested and jailed supporters of Ukraine within its own borders over the last several years.
In our previous reporting sources told us that Lviv, Ukraine, was being considered as a location, but apparently there are some ongoing developments with that deal. There is no official location for the WEC 2025, as of this writing.
The European Esports Championship 2025 will be hosted in Pristina, Kosova, in partnership with the Esports Federation of Kosovo, and with the support of the Kosovo Government and the Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Sports. The event is tentatively set to run from July 9 – 13. More details about the IESF European Esports Championship 2025 can be found here.