All three regional divisions of ESL Challenger League Season 40 have completed their group stages. The top eight teams in each of them (that's Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific) have been determined and will advance to the playoffs. This phase will begin simultaneously in all regions and will end on April 3. The winner of the playoffs in each region will get a place at the ESL Pro League Season 16 Conference.
In the European part of the tournament, the group stage was held in GSL format. Two Russian teams (Entropiq and 1WIN), who were successful last season, managed to qualify for the playoffs. Entropiq will face Portugal's SAW in their first match, while 1WIN will play against Finland's Finest. Other playoff participants included – French Falcons and HEET, Denmark's ECSTATIC and Poland's Wisla Krakow.
In North America, the group stage was played in a round-robin format. Four of the eight teams that made the playoffs were in the playoffs last season as well. These include Brazil's paiN and the American Party Astronauts and Gaimin Gladiators. In addition, Brazil's MIBR managed to qualify for the next stage.
In the eastern stage, teams from China, Mongolia and the Philippines qualified for the playoffs. The most famous of them is TYLOO, ranked 75th in the world ranking.