S8ul levels up with historic Top Five finish at global Apex Legends finals

MUMBAI: India didn’t just drop into the arena, it survived, scored and stood tall. S8ul Esports delivered a watershed moment for Indian esports by finishing among the top five teams globally at the Apex Legends Global Series Championship in Sapporo, Japan, held from January 15 to 18. The result marks the strongest-ever performance by an Indian organisation in Apex Legends at the highest level of international competition.

The ALGS Championship, the pinnacle of the Apex Legends calendar, featured 40 of the world’s most consistent teams from a year-long global circuit. S8UL emerged as the only South Asian team to break into the Top Five. Its all-Australian roster Rick “Sharky” Wirth, Benjamin “Jesko” Spaseski and Tom “Legacy” Canty guided by head coach Harrison “Rogers” Rogers, earned $120,000 (around Rs 1 crore) from a total prize pool of &2 million (approximately Rs 18.14 crore).

S8UL began in Group B, navigating a gruelling round-robin stage before securing a Top 20 finish and progressing to the Winners Bracket. The run culminated in a place in the Grand Finals, where the remaining 20 teams battled it out under the high-stakes Match Point format requiring teams to hit 50 points and then win a match to seal the title.

Across nine intense final matches, S8UL amassed 64 points to finish fifth overall, missing fourth place by just a single point behind Grow Gaming, a reminder of how razor-thin the margins were at the elite end of the competition.

Reacting to the milestone, S8ul co-founder and CEO Animesh Agarwal said the result validated the organisation’s recent push into global esports investments. Over the past 18 months, S8UL has expanded beyond content and creators into world-class competitive rosters, with the ambition of consistently contending and winning on the biggest stages.

S8ul Esports head coach Harrison Rogers echoed the sentiment, highlighting the team’s composure and adaptability across stages. He described the Top Five finish as a major milestone that reinforces confidence in the roster’s ability to challenge for future championships.

The Sapporo result builds on S8ul’s growing international presence in Apex Legends. In 2025, the organisation competed at the ALGS Midseason Playoffs during the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, where it also became the first Indian team to be selected as a Club Partner.

With back-to-back appearances at Apex Legends’ premier global events, S8ul is no longer just participating, it is placing itself firmly on the world map, carrying Indian esports with it.