Esports Global acquires National Student Esports

Esports Global has acquired NSE (National Student Esports) and has appointed the British Esports Federation to run the UK university esports provider going forward.  The move brings together two of the biggest providers of student tournaments and esports education initiatives in the UK and Europe.

NSE was formed in 2017 by Benchmark and backed by British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS), the co-ordinating body for university sports in the UK. In the 2024/25 academic year, 17,800 players from over 2,200 teams across 117 universities competed to be crowned 'Esports University of the Year’, while NSE's Discord channel has an extended reach of 180,000 student gamers across the UK.

The British Esports Federation, meanwhile, was established in 2016 and runs the Student Champs competition for school and college students aged 12+. The 2024/25 Student Champs involved over 1,300 teams and 5,200 students from more than half of the UK's colleges.