The e-sports scene in Qatar has been booming with more and more teams and organizations being formed and competing competitively. One of which is One More Esports, which will be representing Qatar in the Intel Arabian Cup (IAC).
Get to know Mayssa Aboulkabila, the founder of One More Esports as she talks about the history of the organization, its upcoming competitions, and its plans for the future.
MA: My name is Mayssa Aboulkabila, a Canadian-Moroccan citizen living in Doha for the past 4 years.
Being a gamer and e-sports enthusiast, I have always wondered why e-sports wasn’t as developed here as in other countries, and I wanted to help change that.
I started studying the market, and decided to create my own e-sports organization in Qatar- One More Esports. The organisation's main mission has always been to represent Qatar and all Arab nations. E-sports is still young in the MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) region.
We have already accomplished our main starting goal: playing in the Arabian Cup with the other top 9 MENA League of Legends teams.
MA: Officially, we were established by early November 2021. I started actively recruiting, and we have grown as a team in just a few months.
We aim to empower the regional youth that consumes a lot of gaming and e-sports content and provide them with opportunities in the field or give them a team to cheer on regionally and internationally.
It is a hard business to get into as most fail to see the potential in something they perceive as childish. I believe video games and e-sports, in general, are much more than that. The passion behind video games, players, tournaments, and international events is so fulfilling and amazing that I think every region in the world should enjoy it.
Now, with a market so young, our main obstacle is proving our worth as a business to sponsors and interested parties.
MA: Currently, we have our star team, which is the League of Legends team, but we also have teams competing in PUBG Mobile, Valorant, Crossfire, Wildrift, and we are currently having tryouts for a Valorant female team. There is no limit to what games we would like to add in the future, we are in constant discussion about different e-sports games we can get involved in.
Each of our teams comprises a set of players, at least one coach, and one team manager who handles the day-to-day needs like scrims, tournament registration, etc.
I oversee everything in the organization as a whole with the help of Ahmed, our Head of e-sports, who dreams of building a career in the industry. As the head, he oversees everything related to our teams and players.
We also have a social media team, video editors, graphic designer, and content creators from around the MENA region that stream daily on Twitch and/or Facebook.
MA: Our League of Legends team has been formed only one month ago. We had one before but had to make changes to qualify for Intel Arabian Cup (IAC).
Intel Arabian Cup (IAC) is one of the biggest events for Arab gamers. The event is sponsored by Intel, Coca-Cola, Logitech G, Hardee’s, Codashop, and Predator.
The matches are live streamed 3x a week (Friday to Saturday) for 1-2 months each season. Ultimately, the teams that make it to the playoffs play in the grand finals with a USD 50,000 prize pool.
The tournament gives us an important opportunity for viewership and exposure from playing in an international tournament.
MA: Below are the IGN (in-game names), roles, and favorite champions of all our League of Legends players:
MA: The team gathers daily to discuss, spend time together, and practice. The players and coaches discuss mistakes and how to overcome them in these meetings.
Overall, the team and staff are happy to be working together, and the spirits are always high, making it easy for everyone. The whole team wants to achieve the best performance possible and appreciate all the people that support them.
MA: Our pre-game rituals include joining moments before playing, chilling, and discussing. Everyone gets to say their opinion on every step we take.
We take a small break after to stretch and refresh our minds. Our head coach takes care of the mental support (he is very good at this) and cheers every player personally before going into our official match.
MA: Aside from the IAC for League of Legends, we will surely participate in future MENA tournaments. We are still waiting on the dates and confirmation, but all our efforts are currently on IAC.
In addition, we hope our Valorant team will qualify for the next regional league, which is the Valorant Regional League: MENA.
Our PUBG Mobile team is also constantly participating in tournaments (almost every week), and our goal is for them to participate in the next PUBG Mobile Pro League Arabia.
MA: I would love to see some FPS (First Person Shooters) or MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) events, either LAN or online.
It would be nice to see more stores and places like Store974 and Geekstreet. Cheers to them; this place has grasped the essence of my generation of gamers.
MA: There are a lot of gamers here for sure. If anything, this last Red Bull AAMeghessib's Back-2-Back event showed us that people in Doha are interested in gaming events.
You can find everything from cosplayers and custom-pc build fans to avid anime/gamers.
But I feel like these events are always centered around the same games, and I think we need to see something new, event-wise and game-wise.
MA: E-sports events and teams are multiplying in MENA. There is a race to be the e-sports capital of the MENA region, and Qatar has the potential to be a leader, and I believe that local gamers would love to see and support that.
One More Esports would like to see ourselves as one of the stepping stones towards achieving that goal.
Will you be supporting One More Esports at the Intel Arabian Cup? Which e-sports team would you like us to feature next? Let us know in the comments below! Do share this article - it keeps us going!
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