FFWS 2022 will not have Indian or CIS teams

The Free Fire World Series 2022 (FFWS), which will be held in Sentosa, Singapore, later this year has unveiled its US$2m prize pool. The upcoming edition, though, will not be featuring any teams from India or the CIS region. 

There won’t be teams participating from India due to the game being banned in the country. Additional games such as PUBG Mobile, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Arena of Valor are also banned in the country. The Free Fire ban means India’s Free Fire league has been put on hold and thus no team can qualify for the Free Fire World Series. The CIS region will not be having any teams representing from the region after its local Free Fire tournament was cancelled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Free Fire World Series 2022 will kick-off from May 14, 2022, with 18 teams participating instead of 22. Eight of these teams, who are the local champions, will qualify directly for the finals, while the remaining ten will compete in the qualification stage. The eight teams who have qualified for the finals are:

LOUD – Brazil

Evos Divine – Indonesia

Team Flash – Vietnam

Mineros Esports – LATAM

Farang – MCP 

Wask – MENA

Evois Phoenix – Thailand

Vastomundo – EU

The remaining ten are:

Fuego – North America

House of Blood – Pakistan

LGDS – Taiwan

Vivo Keyd – Brazil

Echo Esports – Indonesia

V-Gaming – Vietnam

Ignis Esports – Latin America

Todak – Malaysia, Cambodia and Philippines

All Star Esports – MENA

Attack All Around – Thailand

The play-ins will take place from May 14, while the finals will take place on May 21. All the matches will be livestreamed on Free Fire’s official YouTube channels. 

The second edition of the FFWS 2022 is also expected to be held later in the year. The tournament hasn’t been held since 2019, after the 2021 and 2020 editions were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.