The Southern Barbarians is the new official South African Overwatch Team and for the first time ever, SA will be represented at the upcoming Overwatch World Cup. The tournament takes place in Los Angeles at Blizzcon during October and November.
RELATED: Help South Africa Compete in The 2019 Overwatch World Cup
The Overwatch World Cup is one of the biggest esports tournaments of the year that sees multiple countries compete for the crown. More than 3.8 million people tuned in to watch the 2018 World Cup alone and the 2019 tournament will no doubt be even bigger.
Seven local players make up the South African Overwatch team
- Jordan “Twenty” Bouagh
- Joshua “AshBro” Luttich
- Ruan “Senticall” Potgieter
- Jean-Luc “LikeALuke” Linssen
- Wayne “Visions” Short
- Brandon “Squishy” Leonard
- Jeandre “ShapeShifter” Sadie
But here’s the catch. While the team has been invited to compete in this year’s World Cup, it costs a lot of money. Blizzard pays for the flights and accommodation for the top 10 teams but SA was unable to compete in past tournaments to get a ranking.
This means the SA team will need to cover their own trip expenses in order to get to the tournament and represent the country.
The moment you’ve all been waiting for is finally here!
Watch the video to see who has made it into the South Africa team roster of 2019!#owwc2019 pic.twitter.com/Imea1RYzkP— OWWC2019 South Africa Rhinos (@ZABarbarians) July 29, 2019
How Can You help?
Everything but flights and accommodation can be covered by the players and the organization which means the team are looking for funds to help make this opportunity a reality. The team has up a BackaBuddy page where you can donate anything to help for the expenses of the trip.
Any donations can make this dream a possibility for our local team and it could be the start of something great for South African esports on a bigger scale outside our borders.
- Donate now via BackaBuddy
- Visit the Southern Barbarians Facebook Page
- Visit the Southern Barbarians Instagram Page
- Visit the Southern Barbarians Twitter Page
Samantha Wright, the team’s General Manager said as of Monday, 26 August the team only needed R50,000 to hit their minimum goal.
