The Rocket League Championship Series Winter Split Major takes place March 23-27 in Los Angeles. It will be the second of three scheduled international majors on the RLCS 2021-22 season calendar ahead of the world championship in July, and the first international RLCS event in North America since the Season 7 Finals took place in Newark, New Jersey, almost three full years ago in 2019.

Sixteen of the best Rocket League teams around the globe will compete at the YouTube Theater at SoFi Stadium for a chance to win a title, a share of a $300,000 prize pool and circuit points toward qualifying for the world championship, with five regions represented in the tournament: five from North America, five from Europe, two from Oceania, two from South America, one from the Asia-Pacific region and one from the Middle East and North Africa. Here’s more on each of the teams that have qualified so far.

North America

NRG

Photo credit: Epic Games

Another major, another appearance by NRG. They have been the best Rocket League team in North America for the past few years, and one of the best in the world. Garrett "GarrettG" Gordon and Justin "jstn." Morales have achieved a lot of success together since 2018, and the team has continued to excel since the addition of Mariano "SquishyMuffinz" Arruda in 2020. NRG reached the grand final of the Fall Major in December, where they lost to Europe’s Team BDS. It was the first international RLCS competition since NRG won the Season 8 Finals in December 2019. Now, they’ll once again have the chance to prove that they’re the best team in the world.

G2 Esports

G2 finished just outside the top eight at the Fall Major to miss out on the playoff portion of the tournament. Like NRG, they have been one of the best Rocket League teams in North America over the past several years. Their roster has been remarkably consistent, except they have been searching for a new third ever since the retirement of Dillon “Rizzo” Rizzo last year. They played the last split with Andres "dreaz" Jordan, who was traded to Envy ahead of the winter for Massimo "Atomic" Franceschi. G2 won the second regional event of the winter split to qualify as NA’s second seed at the major.

FaZe Clan

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Throughout the fall split and the subsequent major, FaZe Clan looked like the biggest challenger to NRG’s place atop the NA pecking order. They beat NRG in the first NA regional event, then knocked off a couple top European teams at the major before eventually losing to NRG in the semifinals. Ahead of the winter split, they added longtime Spacestation Gaming player Caden "Sypical" Pellegrin. Although FaZe consistently finished top four at all three winter regionals, they failed to reach any finals. They may have peaked in the fall, but they’re still a very strong team and will be one of the main contenders to win it all in LA.

Version1

Version1 were the most surprising team in NA during the winter split considering they did progressively worse at every fall regional event and were well out of contention for the previous major. Then, they added former Pioneers and Shopify Rebellion player Landon "BeastMode" Konerman and finally broke through to win the third winter regional over NRG. Not only did V1 dominate in the final 4-1, they also beat NRG in group play 3-0. We’ll see if they can translate newfound domestic success onto the international stage the way FaZe did at the Fall Major.

Spacestation Gaming

After just missing out on the Fall Major via a tiebreaker, Spacestation will be back on the international stage for the first time since the Season 8 Finals. In the brief offseason between the fall and winter splits, the team added 15-year-old prodigy Daniel "Daniel" Piecenski. When the top rank of Supersonic Legend was added in 2020, Daniel became the first player to achieve the honor. Once Daniel turned 15 in December to meet the minimum age limit for RLCS play, he immediately became one of the most sought-after prospects. His lack of experience on the international stage will certainly be a wild card, but the rest of the team has enough experience to launch Spacestation into a deep run at the Winter Major.

Europe

Dignitas

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Dignitas reached their second straight major as a strong but not the most dominant team from Europe. Dig picked up a second and a third-place finish across the three winter regional events. The trio of Joris "Joreuz" Robben, Jack "ApparentlyJack" Benton and Kyle "Scrub Killa" Robertson will be looking to improve on a Fall Major performance in which they started off with three straight 3-0 wins before being knocked out in the quarterfinals.

Endpoint

Endpoint enter the Winter Major in a similar position as Dignitas. They’re a strong European team but not quite on the same level as BDS or perhaps even Team Queso who broke out during the winter split. Endpoint’s best finish was second in the third regional event of the winter split, where they lost to Team Queso in the grand final.

Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses re-entered Rocket League in the fall after picking up the roster formerly known as German Amigos. They just missed qualifying for the Fall Major after finishing sixth in the EU rankings. They finished fifth in the winter rankings to just make it. They secured their spot by beating Luminosity Gaming in a lower bracket matchup during the third regional event. A loss would have likely meant LG would have made it instead.

Team BDS

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Team BDS are the reigning major champions and, combined with their success throughout Season X, they can claim to be the best Rocket League team in the world. They won the second EU regional event and finished third in another to secure their spot at the Winter Major. The trio of Marc "MaRc_By_8." Domingo, Evan "M0nkey M00n" Rogez and Alex "Extra" Paoli will look to continue their run of success in LA, and along with NRG are the favorites to win it all.

Team Queso

The roster formerly known as Magnolia was picked up by Team Queso in the fall, then promptly took home the top prize at the first EU winter regional event, followed by a runner-up finish at the next one to qualify for the Winter Major and another first-place finish in the third one. It will be the first international appearance for the young org and even younger team. With 15-, 16- and 17-year-old players on the roster, this will be one of the youngest teams in LA, though they’ve certainly proven themselves so far in arguably the toughest regions in the RLCS.

Oceania

Renegades

Renegades enter the Winter Major having picked up a first and third-place finish across three regional events in Oceania. They were at the Fall Major, finishing 9th-11th. The Australian team continues to be one of the best in the region dating back to 2019.

Pioneers

The Pioneers are new entrants in the Oceania Rocket League scene. The Kansas City-based org had been fielding a Rocket League team in NA for several years before dropping their roster in February. Later that month, the team picked up the formerly unsigned roster known as Forkidden, which had placed second in each of the first two Oceanic regional events. A third-place finish at the final regional under the Pioneers banner ensured a spot at the Winter Major. With a trio of 16-year-olds on the roster, they will be one of the youngest teams at the major.

South America

Team Secret

Team Secret entered the Rocket League scene in February when they acquired the roster formerly known as Erased. The organization founded by Dota 2 great Clement "Puppey" Ivanov, had previously fielded a Rocket League team in Europe from 2017 to 2019. Erased had finished first in the first regional event and second in the second while playing under the Noble Esports banner. Noble dropped the Brazilian roster and appears to have folded shortly after allegations surfaced from multiple employees about the org not playing its employees.

FURIA Esports

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FURIA finished first in both the second and third regional events in South America. They also made an appearance at the Fall Major where they only won one game, but it came against a very strong G2 Esports team. FURIA finished second to True Neutral at the 2021 South America Championship with largely the same roster. With True Neutral moving to North America and then getting picked up by Complexity, FURIA are the best team in the region dating to last year.

Asia-Pacific

DeToNator

Japanese team DeToNator will represent the APAC region in Los Angeles. They beat out fellow Japanese team Tokyo Verdy Esports, the region's representative at the Fall Major, in the APAC qualifier. It's quite a shocking result given Tokyo Verdy won a couple of winter regional events and was the top team in the APAC North region in the winter. DeToNator's roster has been together since June.

Middle East and North Africa

Sandrock Gaming

Photo credit: Epic Games

Sandrock Gaming have not only qualified for the Winter Major, they are the first team who have qualified for the RLCS World Championship this summer. They have dominated the competition in the MENA region, winning all three regional events in both the fall and winter splits. Despite not coming from Europe or North America, the team made a splash at the Fall Major, finishing in the top eight among 16 teams competing. With some international experience, Sandrock could be even more dangerous at the Winter Major.

Lead photo credit: Epic Games