BLAST Premier appoints Andrew Haworth as Commissioner

BLAST Premier has named Andrew Haworth, Director of Operations and Production, as Commissioner for its worldwide Counter-Strike tournament series.

As part of the role, Haworth will oversee the tournament format, rulebook, competitive integrity, and other key areas of governance for BLAST Premier. He will also be in charge of cross-industry relationships with stakeholders such as ESIC and other tournament organisers.

The main aim of the new role will be to ensure BLAST Premier continues to offer opportunities to regions all around the world and contributes to creating an improved CS:GO ecosystem through industry-wide partnerships.

Andrew Haworth, Director of Operations and Production for BLAST and Commissioner of BLAST Premier, said: “I’m delighted to be able to have this opportunity to help develop and build a better BLAST Premier and Counter-Strike scene for years to come. Our tournament series has grown to impressive heights over the last 12 months and we want to maintain this by continuing to create formats and rules that help create fair and exciting CS:GO – ultimately making sure we’re always adding to and improving the ecosystem.”

Robbie Douek, CEO for BLAST, said: “For over two years Andrew has been the driving force behind our operations department and he’s helped create a highly successful BLAST Premier tournament series – he’s the perfect person to continue to maintain and foster new industry partnerships, help teams follow rules and regulations and ensure we’re providing a platform to empower other industry stakeholders and regions around the world.”

BLAST Premier has seen significant growth over the past 12 months with more teams competing than ever before and an increased number of fans tuning in for every event. Last month’s Global Final match between Team Vitality and NAVI became the most popular and watched online event in Counter-Strike history.

The 2021 season starts on Thursday and will unite all major tournaments, offering opportunities to all regions and will eventually crown the world champions of Counter-Strike. Up to 32 teams will take part in the seven BLAST Premier events with potentially 80 teams competing in the qualifying events, meaning the 2021 season could see up to 286 matches take place across the calendar year with a combined prize pool of $2,475,000 on the line.