Hello Street Fighter fans!

We’re excited to reveal a brand new Street Fighter esports tournament for 2019: the Street Fighter Pro League – USA, a new teams-based series featuring a mix of seasoned pros, newcomers, and fan favorite players battling it out in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition.

Street Fighter Pro League presents a unique opportunity to compete in a new 3-on-3 tournament series outside of the Capcom Pro Tour (CPT). We want to provide a fresh take on the format by adding new layers of strategy and drama and we hope fans will enjoy the series. We’ll be paying close attention to fan feedback to incorporate it into future seasons of the League.

As we announced at Capcom Cup 2018, CPT will return for 2019 so fans can continue to expect the best high level Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition singles competition.

How the North American Street Fighter Pro League will work:

Six teams comprised of three players each will compete over the course of two seasons to determine who will take home the first North America Pro League Championship. Each team will include a captain chosen from the top ranked players from the CPT 2018 North American leaderboards .

Online qualifiers will be held to fill the second slot of each team, with the third slot comprised of players voted in by the community. At the beginning of each season, captains will draft players to their teams and they’ll need to consider who they pick wisely to create the winning combination because the format of the League will be slightly different than traditional Street Fighter teams tournaments.

The League will introduce a “character ban” feature. At the start of each match, teams will have the opportunity to ban one character for the entirety of the match. Players must also choose different characters from their teammates for the duration of the match. The goal is for the teams to strategize the matchups in and out of game by working more closely as a team, especially if the best player may not necessarily get to play their best character exclusively.

Kicking things off

The first season is expected to begin in April 2019 with tournaments airing every Thursday through May. The finale will take place in June. The top two teams from season one will roll into season two.

The second season kicks off with the Draft in the Fall and runs through November, culminating in the first North American Pro League Champion.

Keep an eye out on details for the online qualifiers and community vote-in process in the coming weeks here, and follow us on Twitter  and Facebook for updates on the Street Fighter Pro League.