BBC iPlayer coverage of the CS:GO BLAST Premier Grand Final starts Tuesday 19th January at 14:30 GMT.
Riot GamesCopyright: Riot Games
Excel Esports: What is life like inside a professional esports team?
BBC iPlayer
They are a team of international stars who live together and train at a state-of-the-art facility at Twickenham Stadium.
Their backroom staff includes sports psychologists, nutritionists and people who have worked in football.
But these are not your traditional sports stars. They do not compete with a round or even oval ball. Their arena is international esports tournaments - playing League of Legends.
And they have to deal with the pressure of being professional players, while navigating the same coming-of-age challenges as other young men.
In a new five-part series, narrated by Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy, we follow upstart British team EXCEL ESPORTS as they tough it out for a play-off place in the League of Legends European Championship (LEC).
Football crossed with Top Gear - Rocket League explained
Not sure how Rocket League works? Watch our handy explainer to find out more.
This video was produced for the Spring Series which the BBC broadcasted in 2020, however it explains some general concepts about Rocket League that you may find useful if you're watching this weekend.
Video content
Video caption: Rocket League returns to the BBC - here's how it worksRocket League returns to the BBC - here's how it works
Rocket League explained...
What is Rocket League?
Simply put Rocket League is football with boost propelled cars. It’s all about how you manipulate your cars mechanics, how you work together as a team and how many times you can stick the big ball in the net.
Matches are three-on-three and are five minutes long, and are mostly best of five until the latter stages where it’s best of seven.
What is the RLCS X Winter Split?
There are 3 splits - Fall, Winter, Spring - each have 3 regional events leading into an international tournament. Within all these events, each team collects points that will determine whether they qualify for the World Championship.
BBC SportCopyright: BBC Sport
Watch out for Dignitas, BDS and Liquid
If this weekend’s winners have to rely on defensive strategy
to get the job done, it might be worth keeping an eye on the line-up at
Dignitas, who have been pretty stingy in their dealings with opponents so far.
Nowhere was that more apparent than in the way they dusted
off Team Singularity, scoring just four goals in three straight wins and
conceding none, sending the much-travelled Kyle “Scrub Killa” Robertson and
his team-mates on their way toward an early exit from the tournament.
Two weeks ago, Dignitas put Guild Esports out of their
misery with eight unanswered goals in four games. Scoring may yet come, with
the additions of Joris "Joreuz" Robben and Jack
"ApparentlyJack" Benton. By contrast, their opponents in the
quarter-finals, BDS, like to open the game up, so the clash of styles will be interesting.
Also emerging from the pack are Netherlands-based Team
Liquid, who ended Top Blokes’ hopes of back-to-back wins. Liquid signed three
players in July, including with Britain’s Jack “Speed” Packwood-Clarke, but
struggled to make a mark until adding Aldin “Renaky” Hodzic and coach Remco den
Boer in November. They lost the first three games of 2021 but have lost only
once in their last four since then.
Big names fall on the first weekend
The fast-moving nature of European Rocket League was on
display in the first weekend of action in the RLCS European Regional, with December’s
Regional 2 champions Top Blokes biting the dust early after defeats to Team
Liquid and Denied and Galaxy Racer and Fadeaway also suffering a two-games-and-out fate.
Although Rocket League is football-based, that was also no
comfort to Wolves and Barca Esports, two gaming divisions of football clubs eliminated on the first weekend. Even Guild Esports, one of whose owners is David Beckham, found themselves getting an early chance
to “concentrate on other tournaments”.
The team Top Blokes defeated for the title in December, Team
Queso, are still in contention and face Oxygen Esports, who have already beaten
Barcelona and Galaxy.
Team BDS and Giants Gaming, two other teams that finished
strongly in December, are still in the hunt this weekend, as are French outfit Vitality,
who celebrate their third anniversary next month.
BBC SportCopyright: BBC Sport
Did you know Wolves have an Esports team?
Did you know Wolves have an Esports team?
They are one of the 24 teams that are competing in EU Regionals of the Rocket League Championship Season X.
Video content
Video caption: Did you know Wolves have an esports team? Watch Rocket League across BBC this weekendDid you know Wolves have an esports team? Watch Rocket League across BBC this weekend
Vikkstar on his plans for growing Call of Duty esports
BBC Newsbeat
With nearly seven million YouTube subscribers, Vikkstar knows a thing or two about popularity.
The content creator, real name Vikram Singh Barn, has joined Call of Duty esports team London Royal Ravens as a co-owner and says he wants to help grow the professional league.
The 25-year-old tells BBC Sounds gaming podcast Press X To Continue that he wants to help "bridge the gap" between content creators, esports and the audience.
"It's helping them build what they're doing, because esports is huge. But often in the past, there hasn't been an overlap with the other things."
How can I watch the Rocket League Championship Season X?
All times are GMT and subject to change
BBC Sport
The BBC will have live coverage from the Rocket League Championship Season X Winter Split EU Regional's in January across BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and app.
Full coverage details:
Saturday, 16 January- 15:30-21:00
Sunday, 17 January- 15:30-21:00
The CS:GO BLAST Premier Global Final will also be available on BBC iPlayer on Tuesday, 19 January. Don’t miss the world’s best teams battle for one of the hardest trophies to win in esports and a $1,000,000 championship prize pool.
In addition, the BBC's live coverage of the League of League UKLC will also start on Sunday, 17 January. The league stage runs every Sunday and Monday for eight weeks before the semi-finals the final the following week. All the action will be available on the BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer.
Live Reporting
All times stated are UK
Riot GamesCopyright: Riot Games 
Video caption: Fight First ClipFight First Clip Video caption: Rocket League returns to the BBC - here's how it worksRocket League returns to the BBC - here's how it works 
BBC SportCopyright: BBC Sport 
BBC SportCopyright: BBC Sport Video caption: Did you know Wolves have an esports team? Watch Rocket League across BBC this weekendDid you know Wolves have an esports team? Watch Rocket League across BBC this weekend 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
Latest PostLeague of Legends & CS:GO also on the BBC
As well as Rocket League you will be able to enjoy action from the UKLC - League of legends and CS:GO BLAST Premier Grand Final over the coming days.
BBC Sport coverage from the UKLC starts tomorrow from 17:45 GMT.
BBC iPlayer coverage of the CS:GO BLAST Premier Grand Final starts Tuesday 19th January at 14:30 GMT.
Excel Esports: What is life like inside a professional esports team?
BBC iPlayer
They are a team of international stars who live together and train at a state-of-the-art facility at Twickenham Stadium.
Their backroom staff includes sports psychologists, nutritionists and people who have worked in football.
But these are not your traditional sports stars. They do not compete with a round or even oval ball. Their arena is international esports tournaments - playing League of Legends.
And they have to deal with the pressure of being professional players, while navigating the same coming-of-age challenges as other young men.
In a new five-part series, narrated by Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy, we follow upstart British team EXCEL ESPORTS as they tough it out for a play-off place in the League of Legends European Championship (LEC).
Watch Fight For First: Excel Esports on BBC iPlayer
Video content
Football crossed with Top Gear - Rocket League explained
Not sure how Rocket League works? Watch our handy explainer to find out more.
This video was produced for the Spring Series which the BBC broadcasted in 2020, however it explains some general concepts about Rocket League that you may find useful if you're watching this weekend.
Video content
Rocket League explained...
What is Rocket League?
Simply put Rocket League is football with boost propelled cars. It’s all about how you manipulate your cars mechanics, how you work together as a team and how many times you can stick the big ball in the net.
Matches are three-on-three and are five minutes long, and are mostly best of five until the latter stages where it’s best of seven.
What is the RLCS X Winter Split?
There are 3 splits - Fall, Winter, Spring - each have 3 regional events leading into an international tournament. Within all these events, each team collects points that will determine whether they qualify for the World Championship.
Watch out for Dignitas, BDS and Liquid
If this weekend’s winners have to rely on defensive strategy to get the job done, it might be worth keeping an eye on the line-up at Dignitas, who have been pretty stingy in their dealings with opponents so far.
Nowhere was that more apparent than in the way they dusted off Team Singularity, scoring just four goals in three straight wins and conceding none, sending the much-travelled Kyle “Scrub Killa” Robertson and his team-mates on their way toward an early exit from the tournament.
Two weeks ago, Dignitas put Guild Esports out of their misery with eight unanswered goals in four games. Scoring may yet come, with the additions of Joris "Joreuz" Robben and Jack "ApparentlyJack" Benton. By contrast, their opponents in the quarter-finals, BDS, like to open the game up, so the clash of styles will be interesting.
Also emerging from the pack are Netherlands-based Team Liquid, who ended Top Blokes’ hopes of back-to-back wins. Liquid signed three players in July, including with Britain’s Jack “Speed” Packwood-Clarke, but struggled to make a mark until adding Aldin “Renaky” Hodzic and coach Remco den Boer in November. They lost the first three games of 2021 but have lost only once in their last four since then.
Big names fall on the first weekend
The fast-moving nature of European Rocket League was on display in the first weekend of action in the RLCS European Regional, with December’s Regional 2 champions Top Blokes biting the dust early after defeats to Team Liquid and Denied and Galaxy Racer and Fadeaway also suffering a two-games-and-out fate.
Although Rocket League is football-based, that was also no comfort to Wolves and Barca Esports, two gaming divisions of football clubs eliminated on the first weekend. Even Guild Esports, one of whose owners is David Beckham, found themselves getting an early chance to “concentrate on other tournaments”.
The team Top Blokes defeated for the title in December, Team Queso, are still in contention and face Oxygen Esports, who have already beaten Barcelona and Galaxy.
Team BDS and Giants Gaming, two other teams that finished strongly in December, are still in the hunt this weekend, as are French outfit Vitality, who celebrate their third anniversary next month.
Did you know Wolves have an Esports team?
Did you know Wolves have an Esports team?
They are one of the 24 teams that are competing in EU Regionals of the Rocket League Championship Season X.
Video content
Vikkstar on his plans for growing Call of Duty esports
BBC Newsbeat
With nearly seven million YouTube subscribers, Vikkstar knows a thing or two about popularity.
The content creator, real name Vikram Singh Barn, has joined Call of Duty esports team London Royal Ravens as a co-owner and says he wants to help grow the professional league.
The 25-year-old tells BBC Sounds gaming podcast Press X To Continue that he wants to help "bridge the gap" between content creators, esports and the audience.
"It's helping them build what they're doing, because esports is huge. But often in the past, there hasn't been an overlap with the other things."
Read more from Vikkstar here, and listen to him on the BBC's Press X to Continue podcast here.
How can I watch the Rocket League Championship Season X?
All times are GMT and subject to change
BBC Sport
The BBC will have live coverage from the Rocket League Championship Season X Winter Split EU Regional's in January across BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and app.
Full coverage details:
Saturday, 16 January- 15:30-21:00
Sunday, 17 January- 15:30-21:00
The CS:GO BLAST Premier Global Final will also be available on BBC iPlayer on Tuesday, 19 January. Don’t miss the world’s best teams battle for one of the hardest trophies to win in esports and a $1,000,000 championship prize pool.
In addition, the BBC's live coverage of the League of League UKLC will also start on Sunday, 17 January. The league stage runs every Sunday and Monday for eight weeks before the semi-finals the final the following week. All the action will be available on the BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer.