Sibol crumbles in IESF MLBB qualifiers

MANILA, Philippines — The country's national esports team, Sibol, fell in the final hurdle at the Mobile Legends Bang Bang (MLBB) qualifiers for the 2025 World Esports Championship (WEC) organized by the International Esports Federation (IESF).

Competing against nine other teams from Southeast Asia, Sibol had an unstoppable run in the group stages, seeing a perfect 4-0 against Myanmar, Thailand, Brunei and Timor Lester without dropping a single game.

But the unbeaten record would change in one series as in the semifinals against Cambodia, not only would Sibol conceded their first game but it would spell the start of a losing streak as Cambodia secured the 0-2 sweep, relegating the Filipino squad to the third place match-up.

In an off-stream best-of-one series, Sibol would end the tournament with yet another defeat, falling to Myanmar to end their run at the MLBB qualifiers in fourth place.

Though IESF has yet to announce how many teams qualify to the main event of MLBB in the coming 2025 WEC, historically it is usually just the top two teams from the qualifiers who proceed to the main event.

Sibol's last hope to qualify for this year's WEC lies in the female MLBB team with the qualifiers set to begin on September 1.