The Season of Battle is almost over and the final competitions have started. After the Regionals in Asia at the Worldwide Invitational and the American Regionals in San Diego, the last of the Regionals is about to start. The eight best European World of Warcraft Arena Teams and the eight best European Warcraft III players have been invited to compete for the honor of fighting for the World Championship at BlizzCon 2007 against the world elite. These will be the first European World of Warcraft Arena Regionals to be held and we are especially proud of this new addition to our tournament schedule. We want to congratulate all these players on their great achievement of reaching the Regional Finals this year and wish them good luck for the competition.

The first European Regional Finals of the Arena Tournament will be fought out in double elimination rounds with best out of five games for each encounter. The matches take place in the three World of Warcraft Arenas "The Ring of Trials", "The Circle of Blood" and the new addition "Lordaeron".
The teams competing in these Regionals were the best teams in their battlegroup in Season 1 and were then invited to compete in qualifiers where they played against the other qualifying teams from that region's battlegroups. At the end of the qualifier round the top 8 teams from each region were chosen to participate in live regional events. More information on the tournament can be found on the Arena Tournament Preview page, the Armory and in the Arena Tournament FAQ. You can witness the games of the European Regional Finals live in Hamburg where the following teams will meet to determine who is the European Champion:

Feel the pain Al'Akir Rating: 1.793 Members Race/Class Scorpion Zune Shagaire Inflame Rapidload		Millenium Archimonde Rating: 1.781 Members Race/Class Môi Razwa Taikumi Sealeen Molie		Art øf War Crushridge Rating: 1.747 Members Race/Class Shadowkizz Harion Chupito Ailith Chornholio
Log Vek'nilash Rating: 1.724 Members Race/Class Prophet Sundo Akina Peech Mackelina		Knockout Twisting Nether Rating: 1.721 Members Race/Class Exael Letalisa Menthal Atok Seita		Nashwan Ravencrest Rating: 1.717 Members Race/Class Yollodin Seihre Mskin Dahl Zodin
Warders of the Melee Stormscale Rating: 1.700 Members Race/Class Zeksy Oteus Ðøsfërråî Tarde Lomas		Deathwing Talnivarr Rating: 1.662 Members Race/Class Damarus Zalmah Prophecy Coloboss Lomas

Share the excitement as the shoutcasters Thomas "Thomilla" Caspari and Florian "ruLe" Kamolz guide you through the games. You can see the set-up for the first games which will take place on Saturday June 23rd at the CCH in Hamburg on our brackets page on the Armory. If you can not make it to Germany for this special event you can watch the matches streamed live on Giga 2. Check the Schedule to find out when the games start and get even more information about the tournament on the official site of our partner for the event, the Electronic Sports League, Europe's biggest online computer gaming league.

Find out more about the Arena on the out the Arena information page as well as in the Insider article on the arena. Check out the weapon and class armor sets rewards you could get in Season 1 of the Arena.

While the Arena Tournament is brand new this year the Battle.net tournament has a history of exciting matches and great players who have shown amazing skill over the past years. And once again, for the fifth time, eight great players have proven themselves worthy of competing for the title of European Champion and the chance to attend the Global Finals to be held at BlizzCon on August 3rd and 4th this year.

The tournament will be a Solo-Player in double elimination rounds with best out of three games for each match. Though only two of the six European players that were in the Global finals last season have made it into the Regionals, there are many well-known names in the list. The winner of this year's Worldwide Invitational, ToD, will be there and young talent, XlorD, will give us an impression of what the professional players of tomorrow have in store for us. The following players have been invited to participate in the European finals:

Name Race Country 4K.Grubby ToD4K 4K^Creolophus 4K.Zeus[19] SK.XlorD fnatic\RotterdaM 4k.fury mouz.GeIL.KnOfF

Join us in watching some of the best players worldwide as they show their talent and skill live in Hamburg. The shoutcasters who will guide you through the matches will be:

English
Will "zolex" Degryse
Phil "quish" Hoskingens
Kim "bunny" Phan

German
Jan "Frogbender" Dominicus
Dennis "Take" Gehlen
Mark "TheKoenna" Hoffmann

The games will be streamed live on Giga 2. Check the schedule to find out when the games start. You can find the first match-ups on our brackets page which will also be updated with the results during the tournament. More information on the Battle.net Season 5 tournament can be found on the official site of our partner for the event, the Electronic Sports League, Europe's biggest online computer gaming league.

If you are interested in catching up on what happened in last years tournament you can also check out the Battle.net Season 4 information page.

If you don't want to miss anything at the event check out this schedule to always be on time!
NOTE: All times are CET (PST + 9 hours)

Time Friday 22nd Saturday 23rd Sunday 24th 11:00 - 11:30 Open Doors Open Doors Open Doors 11:30 - 12:00 12:00 - 12:30 Season 5 WC3L WoW Arena WB1 4 matches WoW Arena LB Final 12:30 - 13:00 WB 1 LB1 Season 5 13:00 - 13:30 4 matches 5 matches WB Final WoW Arena Grand Final 13:30 - 14:00 14:00 - 14:30 Season 5 WoW Arena LB1 14:30 - 15:00 LB 1 15:00 - 15:30 2 matches Season 5 15:30 - 16:00 LB3 WC3L 16:00 - 16:30 Season 5 Open Doors WoW Arena WB 2 2 matches Grand Final 16:30 - 17:00 WB 2 17:00 - 17:30 2 matches Season 5 17:30 - 18:00 WC3L LB Finals 18:00 - 18:30 WC3L WB 1b Season 5 WB Final 18:30 - 19:00 World Elite LB 2 WoW Arena LB2 19:00 - 19:30 vs 2 matches bo3 2 matches 19:30 - 20:00 sk Gaming WoW Arena WB Final 20:00 - 20:30 5 matches WoW Arena 20:30 - 21:00 bo3 LB3 21:00 - 21:30 WC3L WB1a 21:30 - 22:00 MeetYourMakers WC3L 22:00 - 22:30 vs LB Final Season 5 22:30 - 23:00 4Kings 5 matches Grand Final 23:00 - 23:30 5 matches 23:30 - 24:00 bo3