Philippines to host M5 world tourney

Filipino fans will finally get a chance to see the world's best players live in action as Moonton formally awarded the hosting of the M5 Mobile Legends World Championship to the Philippines around either November or December of this year.

Ray Ng, the head of Esports Ecosystem Lead of M Summit, said they are bringing elite Mobile Legends action to the Philippines in a bid to come up with more third-party and nationally-sanctioned events this year.

Touted as the grandest stage of competitive Mobile Legends, the M-Series just wrapped up its M4 Mobile Legends World Championship with Filipino squad ECHO bagging the title and the lion's share of the P43.9 million prize pool.

ECHO, the runner-up in the previous Mobile Legends Professional League Philippines, walloped reigning champion Blacklist International, also of the Philippines, to assert its dominance as the best professional Esports team in the world.

"Our tournament roadmap for 2023 is our most comprehensive yet and we hope to introduce more third-party and nationally-sanctioned tournaments this year," Ng said.

"This is an exciting start for us in jampacked 2023 and we are open to working with grassroots organizers and professional developers to provide equal opportunities for passionate Esports professionals, fans and players."

With ECHO's victory, the Philippines has so far won three of the four M-Series world tourneys with Bren Esports winning the M2 in January 2021, and Blacklist reigning supreme in the M3 in December of the same year.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino said there is simply no better time to host the prestigious event than in 2023.

"We are more excited that the next M5 will be in the Philippines," Tolentino said in a statement.

"We are really excited to give you the best hospitality of the Filipinos. See you in M5 in the Philippines."