Movistar Riders emerged victorious at the ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 after defeating Bad News Eagles in the final match of the Australian event.
The Spanish team won their first LAN trophy of the year without dropping a single map throughout the tournament.
The champions bagged a $50,000 cash prize along with a guaranteed spot at the upcoming ESL Pro League Season 18, which is set to take place between August 31 and October 1. Movistar Riders were invited to the event just four days before it began after ESL announced TheMongolz’s withdrawal.
The Spanish squad began their journey in the group stage with a narrow win against Rare Atom on Anubis that went into overtime before they managed to close it out. Movistar Riders then lined up against Bad News Eagles and defeated the event’s favorites to secure a spot in the playoffs alongside the highest seed from Group B.
Their first best-of-three fixture came in the semi-finals against ECSTATIC after the Danes won against Complexity, the North America’s highest representatives at the event. Movistar Riders swept their opponents in two maps to secure a spot in the final, fending off a Danish comeback after they nearly gave up a 15-8 lead on the second map of Inferno.
In the final match, Movistar Riders faced Bad News Eagles once again as the Kosovar squad had recovered from their previous defeat with victories over Rare Atom and home favorites Grayhound. The Spaniards took down Bad News Eagles in two maps to lift the trophy. The team’s in-game leader, alex, was the standout player throughout the tournament, with the tournament’s highest rating (1.30), KAST (78.2%), and clutches won (6).
This victory also marks Movistar Riders’ second ESL Challenger trophy, as they won the title last summer in Valencia, Spain, with a different squad featuring Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia and Raúl “DeathZz” Jordán Nieto instead of Martinez and Pere “sausol” Solsona Saumell. 
Now, the champions can focus on their ESL Challenger League Season 45 Europe campaign, as it is their only scheduled event for the next few weeks.
The ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 prize pool was distributed among the top eight teams as follows:
- Movistar Riders (Spain) – $50,000
- Bad News Eagles (Kosovo) – $20,000
- 3-4. ECSTATIC (Denmark) – $10,000
- 3-4. Grayhound (Australia) – $10,000
- 5-6. Complexity (North America) – $3,000
- 5-6. Rare Atom (China) – $3,000
- 7-8. EG Black (United States) – $2,000
- 7-8. VERTEX (Australia) – $2,000
