These days, one of the few success stories coming from the region is that of SAW, a Portuguese team created in January 2020 that has slowly become the best squad that the country has ever produced. They climbed to 21st place in the world rankings earlier in 2021 and a few weeks ago beat Movistar Riders in the grand final of LVP Unity Spring Cup to earn a spot in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, in which they’re slated to face Heroic, the recently-crowned ESL Pro League champions, in the first round.
But getting to this level has not been smooth sailing. SAW was launched as a temporary project, and the organisation even considered selling the team over the summer due to a lack of resources.
