With the abandonment of the round robin format that defined the RLCS from Seasons 2-9 in favor of the new circuit format for RLCS X, the number of teams competing every weekend has increased almost exponentially. Gone are the days of watching the same 8 or 10 teams play one—maybe two—games a weekend. Now, RLCS events have contained 32, 24, and 20 teams per region as the season has gone on.
Needless to say, there are a lot more teams to pay attention to than ever before, even if you only choose to focus on one region. For those who wish to follow the European RLCS but have no clue which one of the 8 billion teams to follow, here’s a helpful guide:
The Basics
First, I’ll acknowledge that many fans might want to root for a team based on a shared nationality with the players.
If you’re only looking for a team from where you’re from, you don’t need to read any further than this. So before we get to specifics, here are some of the top teams in Europe organized by which country they represent.
(Note that these are the nationalities of the players, which are not always representative of the organization. For example, Team BDS is a Swiss org with two French players and one Spanish player.)
| Team Name | Country | Players of Primary Nationality | Players not of Primary Nationality |
| Team BDS | France | M0nkey M00n, Extra | MaRc_By_8 (Spain) |
| Team Vitality | France | Alpha54, Fairy Peak!, Kaydop | N/A |
| Top Blokes | England | Archie, FlamE | Kassio (France) |
| Giants Gaming | Spain | Stake, Zamué | Itachi (Morocco) |
| Dignitas | The Netherlands | Joreuz, ViolentPanda | ApparentlyJack (England) |
| Guild Esports | England | Deevo, Noly | ThO (Netherlands) |
| Endpoint | N/A | All three players of different nationalities | Metsanauris (Finland), RelatingWave (England), Virtuoso (Ireland) |
| Galaxy Racer | N/A | All three players of different nationalities | Arju (Italy), Bluey (England), Mittaen (Netherlands) |
| Solary | France | Chausette45, Ferra | AztraL (Belgium) |
| Team Queso | Spain | Atomik, DmentZa, VK-Sailen | N/A |
| Team Singularity | United Kingdom | Breezi (England), Hibbs (England), Scrub Killa (Scotland) | N/A |
| Rix.gg | The Netherlands | Mikeboy, Oscillon | Kash (England) |
| Team Liquid | Denmark | Fruity, Ronaky | Speed (England) |
Glory Supporters?
Would you like to have a leisurely, non-stressful viewing experience with the RLCS? Do you want the easiest path to satisfaction? Do you tend to be a bandwagoner? Look no further than arguably the most regionally-dominant team to ever play the game: Team BDS.
If you just can’t stomach the idea of your favorite team losing even a single match, BDS is the team for you. They simply don’t lose. Of the seven grand finals BDS has been in this season (there’s been a total of 9), they have won seven of them. For those who are less mathematically inclined, that’s a 100% win ratio in grand finals. On top of this, they’re nearly 1200 points ahead of second place—as large as the gap between second and sixth.
If you’re a believer in the phrase ‘it’s not fun unless you’re winning,’ then no fanbase has more fun than the BDS fanbase. Just turn on the stream, grab a bowl of popcorn, and watch your favorite team dominate.
The Underdog Champ?
Do you want to be an underdog in the grand finals but still be confident you’ll at least make it there? This one’s easy: pick up a Vitality jersey tomorrow. Not only are they by far and away Europe’s number two team, but they likely have the biggest following of any European team due to the sheer recognizability of both their brand and players.
Vitality has set themselves apart from the rest of Europe, being the only team besides BDS to reach more than two Grand Finals. While they have yet to take BDS down in a Grand Finals, the rest of Europe has just as much trouble with Vitality.
The French trio consists of more veteran talent than their blue and pink rivals, with Kaydop being the holder of three world championships, Fairy Peak being a multiple-time world finalist, and Alpha being one of a small handful of players to win MVP his rookie season. If you want a team with a rich history that is still right at the top, there’s no better team to pick.
The Chaos Option?
Insanely fast, mechanical, offensive and somewhat mistake-ridden gameplay has become more associated with a country than a specific team, that country being spain.
There are two Spanish teams at the top end of European Rocket League, one much more fundamentally sound than the other. If you want a team that maintains stability and consistent results while utilizing a crazy fast and mechanical playstyle, check out the Vodafone Giants.
Another one of just four teams to make multiple grand finals, the Giants consistently give excellent fights to both Vitality and BDS, mainly due to the potency and speed of their offensive attack.
On the other end of the spectrum of chaos sits ninth-place Team Queso, the only team with a winning record against BDS in Season X.
Team Queso is one of the most unpredictable, chaotic teams the world has ever seen, with their playstyle seeming to be centered around ‘get as many touches on the ball as humanly possible.’ While this results in some shaky defense, Queso also has massive upset and incredible highlight potential.
The Community Pick?
Not every team in the RLCS is signed to an organization, even some of the teams at the very top. These teams seem to have a bit of a more personal connection with the general publicas they only have to represent themselves. They tend to be more popular with close followers of the esport than new fans, creating a unique sense of community within their small fan bases that large organizations can’t quite replicate.
Probably the most notable unsigned team (if you can still technically call them that) is Top Blokes. The only team besides Vitality or BDS to actually win an RLCS X event in Europe, Top Blokes quickly became fan favorites with great results, likeable players, and a strong social media presence.
Rookie Archie has been one of the flashiest and consistent players in the world as veterans FlamE and Kassio continue to prove their success on Veloce from Seasons 8 and 9 wasn’t a fluke. Top Blokes have also recently announced they have received financial backing from investors, hinting at the idea of them becoming an organization themselves.
RLCS X Spring Regional 1 saw three unsigned teams in the top eight; White Demons, Godsmilla’s team, and Aether. White Demons consists of spanish rookie duo crr and Dorito with the new addition of longtime German veteran Tigreee. Both rookies have shown flashes of absolutely unreal mechanical ability while Tigreee has quietly been playing some of the best Rocket League of his career.
Aether is the Spring Split’s answer to Winter’s Redemption (now Rix.gg), consisting of three players who all either faced a kick or disband following the Winter Split. The trio of Eekso (Formerly Galaxy Racer), Tox (Formerly Solary), and Yukeo (Formerly Fadeaway) has already pulled off some impressive upsets with their incredible offensive creativity.
The last unsigned team is the hilariously named Godsmilla’s team, consisting of another longtime German veteran in Freakii, Portugese rising star AcroniK, and of course, professional benchwarmer Godsmilla.
This team shocked the world with an incredible top-four finish in the most recent regional, taking down teams like Solary, Team Liquid, and Team Queso. Smilla’s team showed incredible composure on the defensive side of the ball all tournament. AcroniK specifically impressed with his excellent on-ball mechanics as the offensive force behind these fan favourites.
The Challengers?
There are loads of teams that have shown the potential to be worldbeaters but have yet to show the consistency to actually topple the best teams in the region regularly. We’ve seen flashes from these teams but we’re waiting for the day where they truly pop off and take a regional. Being a fan of these teams is probably really stressful and admittedly unrewarding so far, but their potential can create some real excitement.
In this category I have three teams—Dignitas, Guild and Solary.
Dignitas popped off near the end of winter, netting back-to-back third place finishes in Winter Regional 3 and the Winter Major. Joreuz and ApparentlyJack have proven themselves as two of the most creative and technically brilliant players in the world, while two-time world champ ViolentPanda has seen one of the biggest stretches of overall improvement in his career. Of these three teams, I have Dignitas as the most likely to actually win an event before the end of the season.
Guild has been in an interesting spot all season, netting basically nothing but 5-8th place finishes all season while still appearing to improve. Noly has been especially brilliant as of late and can tread dangerously close to being a top-5 player in the region territory on his day. ThO rounds out Guild’s offensive attack while Deevo has provided some of the best support on both sides of the ball. Deevo has once again proven that he hasn’t regressed in the slightest. While I think Dignitas is closest to the top, Guild is seriously improving as well. With great branding as well, they’re becoming an increasingly easy team to root for.
Probably the hardest team to be a fan of on this list is Solary. When Chausette and Ferra, one of the most famous and longest-standing duos in RLCS history, added Season 9 MVP AztraL to the team, they were immediately considered at least a top 4 team in the region. They have achieved that result exactly once all season.
While they have been slowly recovering from their abysmal Fall split, this team of household RLCS names still has some serious questions to answer. However, they’re still an incredibly entertaining team to watch, especially with AztraL who is still easily a top-five player in the region. We have seen each of these players win major tournaments, just not together. Longtime fans will welcome new ones with open arms, but also a warning message to be prepared for heartbreak.
Now maybe none of these teams are for you. I certainly didn’t touch on all of them, including some other top 10 teams such as Endpoint or Galaxy Racer. In general, the best tip I can give to finding the right team for you (besides this guide, of course.) is to find a player you really enjoy, whether it be because of what they do on the pitch or because of their personality, and just root for their team. With the players holding qualification spots and not the organizations, roster moves are ever-abundant, so your new favorite team may not look the same in a few months.
There are so many incredible players and teams in Europe, so you’re bound to find at least one that you’ll like just by tuning into a regional. Or, you can be like a sizable portion of viewers simply root for great Rocket League instead of any team in specific. The great thing about the RLCS is that the choice is totally up to you.
