British Esports Student Champs 2026 Grand Finals teams and venue confirmed – get your free tickets here

The UK’s best young gamers will face-off this summer to represent their schools and colleges in the British Esports Student Champs 2026 Grand Finals!

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What is the British Esports Student Champs?

This tournament series, organised by the UK’s national esports body, sees students aged 12+ take part in tournaments across the academic year in games including VALORANT, League of Legends, Overwatch 2 and Rocket League.

Teams represent their secondary schools, Further Education (FE) colleges and alternative provision schools. They’re grouped into North and South regions, and the best from each will now compete in the National Grand Final in a LAN (Local Area Network) environment on stage.

Players will also gain access to British Esports’ world-class National Esports Performance Campus in Sunderland to have bootcamp practice sessions and special media coverage taking a peek into the lives of some of the best students in the country.

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Where and when will the British Esports Student Champs 2026 Grand Finals take place?

This year’s event will be hosted by the University of Staffordshire on Tuesday June 23rd and Wednesday June 24th 2026.

The university launched new professional grade esports facilities at its Stoke Campus worth almost £3m a couple of years ago, providing the perfect stage for our students to compete.

The best-of-three VALORANT and League of Legends finals are due to take place on June 23rd, with Overwatch 2 (best-of-five) and Rocket League (best-of-seven) to follow on June 24th.

Specific timings are still to be confirmed, but you can expect both days to run from around 10am to 6pm BST.

Secure your free tickets for the British Esports Student Champs Grand Finals 2026 here! And for those at home, you can tune into the broadcast live online via twitch.tv/britishesports.

If you’re a school or college and want to find out more about taking part in the Student Champs, email us at champs@britishesports.org

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For students, by students

To highlight the career pathways and key skills that esports offers, the Student Champs event will once again will be put together for students by students, with young talent operating the broadcast that will go live on the British Esports Twitch channel.

Students from Sunderland College – who have worked on the broadcast this year with British Esports Graduate Intern Louis Skilton – will help run the grand finals event, a culmination of their efforts and development throughout the year.

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Which school and college teams have qualified for the 2026 Student Champs Grand Finals?

Players aged 12+ have been competing since September 2025 in the British Esports Student Champs 25/26 season, and the finalists have now been confirmed.

The leading team from the North Division and one from the South Division will face-off in each game, for the chance to reach the Student Champs Hall of Fame and be etched into collegiate esports’ history forever.

The finalists are as follows:

League of Legends

North team: Belfast Met Esports (Belfast Metropolitan College)

South team: Croydon Prime (Croydon College)

VALORANT

North team: NSCG (Newcastle and Staffordshire Colleges Group)

South team: CCP Lighthouse (City College Plymouth)

Overwatch 2

North team: GCS Owls (Gower College Swansea)
South team: Iūdicium.eXe (Exeter College)

Rocket League

North team: YCV-Deception (York College)
South team: SGS FirstShot (South Gloucestershire and Stroud College)

You can watch some of the recent Student Champs action on the British Esports YouTube channel and British Esports Twitch channel.

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The story so far – some words from British Esports on our Student Champs 2025/26 finalists!

We caught up with British Esports Graduate Intern Louis Skilton for some intel:

“In League of Legends, Croydown Prime will be looking to secure back-to-back wins after being among the British Esports Student Champs 24/25 champions,” he said.

“In Overwatch, Exeter College return to the finals after falling short against the Confetti Arrows last year, and will face the GCS Owls this time around.

“The York Vikings also return to the Grand Finals in Rocket League, after falling short to Exeter College last year. SGS FirstShot knocked Exeter out prematurely in the Regional Finals. This is also rising star Sellars’s (York Vikings semi-pro player) chance to bring a trophy home early in his career.

“And it’s all to play for in VALORANT, with both teams new. It’ll also be CCP Lighthouse’s first time on the Grand Finals stage since 2023.”

Alice Whorley, Head of Operations at British Esports, added: “We’re so excited to announce the teams set to compete in our latest Student Champs Grand Finals! Every player has shown their talent and teamwork to reach this stage, and we look forward to seeing who will emerge as champions come the weekend of June 23rd and 24th.

“Good luck to all the teams taking part in what promises to be the biggest and best Student Champs Grand Finals yet.”

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Secure your free tickets for the British Esports Student Champs Grand Finals 2026 here! And for those at home, you can tune into the broadcast live online via twitch.tv/britishesports.

If you’re a school or college and want to find out more about taking part in the Student Champs, email us at champs@britishesports.org