FORZE have assured themselves a place in ESL Pro League Season 11 Europe following a 3-0 victory over HAVU.

The two sides battled it out in the ESEA MDL Season 32 Finals for a spot in the next season of Pro League, with the loser of the matchup being sent to ESL Pro League Season 10 Pre-Relegation for another shot at promotion against EPL Season 10’s worst performers and Spirit, the third-placed MDL side.

Coming from the upper bracket, FORZE entered the best-of-five matchup with a 1-0 map advantage over HAVU, with the Russian squad doubling their score as the opening map of Train concluded. HAVU made it far from easy, though, as the Finnish side pushed FORZE all the way to double overtime, but standout performances from the duo of Bogdan "⁠xsepower⁠" Chernikov and Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev edged the Russians over the line.

forZe will compete in the next season of Pro League

With FORZE on the cusp of promotion, Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov and his squad turned their performance up a gear on Mirage in order to close out the series swiftly. FORZE stormed to an 11-4 halftime lead off the back of numerous multi-kills from Dmitriy "⁠facecrack⁠" Alekseyev, but HAVU would not give up.

Despite the Russian squad hitting series point early in the second half, a late resurgence, led by Joonas "⁠doto⁠" Forss, enabled the Finns to narrow the deficit to 13-15. However, it was not to be as FORZE shut down HAVU in the following round to secure a 16-13 score and close out the series 3-0 to book a place in the Pro League for the first time in the team's history.

ESEA MDL Season 32 Europe FinalsBest of 5 FORZEMatchpage 3 0 13th December 2019 HAVU 1Default 0 22Train 20 16Mirage 13

FORZE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Bogdan 'xsepower' Chernikovxsepower	66 - 39	+27	91.7	1.44
Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevFL1T	65 - 44	+21	93.1	1.42
Andrey 'Jerry' MekhryakovJerry	52 - 46	+6	76.6	1.08
Dmitriy 'facecrack' Alekseyevfacecrack	44 - 49	-5	73.0	0.99
Almaz 'almazer' Asadullinalmazer	37 - 39	-2	57.6	0.90

HAVU	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Joonas 'doto' Forssdoto	53 - 53	0	81.9	1.08
Lasse 'ZOREE' UronenZOREE	51 - 46	+5	67.0	1.06
Olli 'sLowi' PitkänensLowi	42 - 52	-10	63.1	0.87
Eetu 'sAw' SahasAw	33 - 57	-24	62.2	0.75
Aaro 'hoody' Peltokangashoody	35 - 56	-21	56.4	0.69

FORZE will look to build on this promotion this weekend at the ESEA MDL Global Challenge, where $75,000 will be on the line. The Russian team, who are currently ranked 16th in the world, will then play their final event of the year on home soil as they will attend the $500,000 EPICENTER, in Moscow, from December 17-22.

The following teams are already confirmed for ESL Pro League Season 11 Europe:

Astralis
HEROIC
G2
fnatic
Ninjas in Pyjamas
BIG
FORZE
EPL Relegation #2 MOUZ
Natus Vincere
FaZe
North
Vitality
HellRaisers
EPL Relegation #1
EPL Relegation #3 fnatic #2 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonMaikil 'Golden' SelimLudvig 'Brollan' Brolin FORZE #16 Dmitriy 'facecrack' AlekseyevAlmaz 'almazer' AsadullinEvgenii 'FL1T' LebedevBogdan 'xsepower' ChernikovAndrey 'Jerry' Mekhryakov Andrey 'Jerry' Mekhryakov Age: 21 Team: FORZE Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 724 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 BIG #29 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschJohannes 'nex' MagetIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşOwen 'smooya' Butterfield HEROIC #17 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferCasper 'cadiaN' MøllerPatrick 'es3tag' HansenJohannes 'b0RUP' BorupMartin 'stavn' Lund Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif MOUZ #5 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenChris 'chrisJ' de JongÖzgür 'woxic' EkerDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýRobin 'ropz' Kool HAVU #28 Eetu 'sAw' SahaLasse 'ZOREE' UronenOlli 'sLowi' PitkänenJoonas 'doto' ForssAaro 'hoody' Peltokangas Spirit #31 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevArtem 'iDISBALANCE' EgorovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev Natus Vincere #9 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov Vitality #8 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut FaZe #7 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Dmitriy 'facecrack' Alekseyev Age: 25 Team: FORZE Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1137 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.71 Joonas 'doto' Forss Age: 23 Team: HAVU Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 214 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.68 North #24 René 'cajunb' BorgPhilip 'aizy' AistrupMarkus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeJakob 'JUGi' HansenNicklas 'gade' Gade Evgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev Age: 18 Team: FORZE Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 492 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 G2 #14 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Bogdan 'xsepower' Chernikov Age: 21 Team: FORZE Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 566 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.58 HellRaisers #44 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowIgor 'crush' ShevchenkoVadim 'Flarich' KaretinŽygimantas 'nukkye' ChmieliauskasAlexander 'scoobyxie' Marynych Ninjas in Pyjamas #10 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergSimon 'twist' EliassonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' SternerNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora