WePlay Academy League Season 6 start postponed amid Kyiv attacks

The sixth installment of the WePlay Academy League will take place online for over six weeks from October to November.

Update 10:18 : The organizers have postponed the first day of play at WePlay Academy League following missile attacks that hit Kyiv, Ukraine, where much of the staff is located, for the first time in months.

"Today our country woke up to a massive missile attack by the Russian Federation," a part of a statement from WePlay reads. "Due to this, we are forced to postpone the start of WAL Season 6. Our main value is our employees' safety, and we cannot expose them to additional risk."

WePlay have announced the Academy League's sixth season, where 14 organizations will be competing for the lion's share of the $100,000 prize pool. Flames Ascent and MIBR Academy join the list of participating teams, while Young Gods, who withdrew from Season 5 after parting ways with their Brazilian roster, and Eternal Fire Academy, who placed joint-last in the previous season, won't be returning this time around.

Teams will first be split into two groups of seven, where they will play each other twice in a double round-robin format. The No. 1 squads from both groups will earn a direct spot in the playoff stage, while the second to fourth-seeded teams will face a gauntlet-style ladder. The top teams of each gauntlet will qualify to the play-off stage, where a double elimination format will be followed.

Banjo's men will aim to defend their Academy League crown

fnatic Rising come into Season 6 as the defending champions and tournament favorites, with four members of the current lineup part of last season's title-winning squad. At WePlay Academy League Season 5, they became only the second different organization to lift the trophy after MOUZ NXT dominated the competition's first four seasons.

The two groups for WePlay Academy League Season 6 are:

Group A
Apeks Rebels
Flames Ascent
NAVI Junior
OG Academy
MOUZ NXT
fnatic Rising
FURIA Academy

Group B
Young Ninjas
BIG Academy
Astralis Talent
PROSPECTS
Spirit Academy
MIBR Academy
ENCE Academy