BLAST lays out updated 2025 Rainbow Six: Siege competitive calendar

It'll still kick off in May and wrap up in February as usual.

Now that we're nearing the end of the 2024 competitive Rainbow Six: Siege season, organiser BLAST has shifted its attention to the 2025 season and the changes that will include.

One such change is an updated seasonal structure that will still see action beginning in May with a Kick-off event, all before running until February when the next Six Invitational will be held. Between then, we can expect Stage 1 to happen from June through July, a "third-party event" that is almost certainly the Esports World Cup in August, while Stage 2 occurs in August through October, a Major once again in November, before Regional Finals in December while Last Chance qualifiers for the Six Invitational take place in December and January. There will then be Challenger Series action in March onwards during the offseason again.

Otherwise, the big change will be a consolidation of the nine regional leagues in four more dedicated sectors. Europe, MENA, and Türkiye will all play in the same EML league, as North America and Central America appear in the NAL, Brazil and South LATAM in the SAL, and finally a fourth league that collates Japan, Korea, Oceania, and Asia that is known as the APL. The reason for this change is to focus efforts and "deliver the highest level of competition".

With a new regional league setup, you might be wondering how these will play into the various regional tournaments. We're told that the Stage 1 and Stage 2 Playoffs will send the best teams to the Regional Finals, while the top four teams from each region from the Stage 2 Playoffs attend the November Major. The only difference will be in the APL, where there will be a Major Qualifications bracket too between the Playoffs and the Major, where the four attending teams will be decided.

Looking at the Six Invitational, the attending teams will include the Major winner, the four regional champions, the four Last Chance winners, and the top 11 teams based on global standings too.

Lastly, as per the R6 Share partner teams, each region will have five partner squads, and as for who there are, you can see them in the image below.