posted Sep 9th, 2017 - The NSL News story on 4 September explained how the British delegation for the ESL Championship 2017 was beginning to take shape.

Event organizer Ali Woodhouse reported that the host is currently expecting teams from Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Great Britain, Czech Republic and Italy.

ESL delegations from Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Great Britain have won the special ESL Spirit award in the past, while Italy and Czech Republic have not had a strong enough team presence yet to win the sword.

Ali Woodhouse said that it would be great "to see teams from other nations come and challenge the established four!"

The German 4-way delegation won the ESL Spirit in 2016, which was the first time for the hosting country. The skydiving center in Saarlouis is hosting the event once again later this month, and German teams have the opportunity to defend the ESL Spirit on their home turf.

Oct 7th, 2016 FS4				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class			O,16,2	12,17,B	P,20,A,21	G,C,4,8	6,M,7	K,11,5	J,N,10,15	Total	Avg
1	AtomiX YUU	DE	10	17	14	16	14	20	16	14	111	15.9
2	Ookpik	FR	8	16	12	14	15	19	15	13	104	14.9
3	NeVa	DE	6	15	11	14	14	14	14	13	95	13.6
4	Hvezdy	CZ	5	9	10	6	9	11	8	10	63	9.0
5	4the Queen	UK	4	8	8	8	8	9	6	8	55	7.9
Rank	AA Class			M,9,L	4,Q,20	19,15	K,18,6	13,14	22,D,1	O,B,A,21	Total	Avg
1	HF Flying Circus	CZ	10	20	11	8	9	7	10	15	80	11.4
2	Horschd	DE	8	17	9	6	10	7	10	14	73	10.4
3	RAFSPA Lightning	UK	6	16	9	9	7	7	9	14	71	10.1
4	Jetmax	BE	5	14	9	5	10	4	9	14	65	9.3
5	Tyranno4us Rex	UK	4	16	7	6	8	5	8	13	63	9.0
6	Blok 43	NL	3	14	7	7	3	5	8	11	55	7.9
7	Dimension	NL	2	10	9	4	5	3	6	8	45	6.4
Rank	A Class			C,E,4	D,Q,L	H,O,7	21,P	B,J,F	K,6	19,9	Total	Avg
1	Pajama Pumas	UK	10	9	12	12	8	18	9	8	76	10.9
2	TBC	UK	8	7	9	10	9	16	9	6	66	9.4
3	4Sprung Durch Technik	UK	6	5	8	10	4	15	9	5	56	8.0
4	4midable	NL	5	10	7	12	5	8	7	6	55	7.9
5	Team Charlie	DE	4	8	7	10	5	9	8	5	52	7.4
Rank	Rookie			F,H,B	E,K,A	P,Q,O	G,D,N	L,J,M	C,D,P	F,E,L	Total	Avg
1	Bazinga	DE	10	12	9	8	4	10	6	10	59	8.4
2	RAFSPA Raptor	UK	8	13	6	4	6	6	3	11	49	7.0
3	Points B4 Friends	UK	6	0	3	4	3	2	3	2	17	2.4

AtomiX YUU, Germany's silver medalist at the national championships, won the AAA Class competition last year for the German delegation and has increased the scoring level significantly with the new lineup.

Germany also won the Rookie Class competition last year with Bazinga, who now competed in the AA Class a few weeks ago. The two 1st places at the ESL Championship 2016 laid the foundation for winning the ESL Spirit.

Horschd had added 8 ESL points with a 2nd place in the AA Class and was now competing in the AAA Class at the national championships. Saarlouis home team NeVa, this year's bronze medalist in the AAA Class, completed the German 2016 victory with additional 6 ESL points for the 3rd place.

HF Flying Circus won the AA Class competition at the ESL Championship 2016 and is now competing in the AAA Class. The Czech team just won the silver medals at the national championships with a 10.5 team record average for a 10-round meet.

The Pajama Pumas collected 10 ESL points for the UK delegation with the 1st place in the A Class last year and then moved up into the AA Class. The British team recently won the silver medals at the national championships after an 8-round and 1-point battle with winner Salty Jacks and beat their own 8-round record average in the lower category of 2016.

Belgian team JETMAX placed 4th in the AA Class at the ESL Championship 2016 and now won AAA Class bronze medals at the national championships with a higher meet average, as well.

The Dutch 4-way delegation has won most of the ESL titles since the event was created in 2004 (2005 - 2007 - 2009 - 2010 - 2011). Belgium won the inaugural event in 2004 and added the titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013. The UK delegation won two times (2008 - 2014) and Germany is the defending champion.

The event begins in the evening of September 21 with the meet briefing, and Round 1 is scheduled for Friday morning. The 10-round meet has to be completed on Saturday evening (September 23) when awards and closing party take place. Sunday is departure and travel day.