For its fourth season, the Deca Cup, organised by Esports provider 10N8E, broke new ground in showcasing Nigeria’s thriving Free Fire community. After a fierce battle through 235 competing teams, All Star Naija emerged as champions, capping off the tournament’s most competitive year yet, writes Iyke Bede 

Following a one-month intense online qualifiers, the 10N8E Free Fire Deca Cup reached its climax at the Lagos LAN finals, where 12 top teams battled for supremacy in the tournament’s signature ‘Battle Royale’ mode.  

Staged at the Waterfall Event Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, Deca Cup 4 is the country’s first official Garena community event, marking the growing interest of international game developers and publishers in the local scene. Through Garena’s API client, this year’s Deca Cup featured customised skins for individual players and brands.  

“This is an official Garena community event, and one of the things they wanted to see was how big the community is in Nigeria. So, we made the registration open, which meant we didn’t limit the number of teams, and we ended up having 236 teams officially, which is significant if you consider there are four players per team,” said Adebayo Onigbanjo, CEO of 10N8E.  

The event opened with a ‘Clash Squad’ exhibition match between Itel Esports and Team Flux. In the ‘Battle Royale’ finals, 48 players (split into 12 squads) competed across six maps, with points awarded for eliminations and placements. When the final standings were tallied, AllStarNaija emerged victorious, totalling 103 points, claiming the ‘Deca Cup’ trophy and the lion’s share (₦450,000) of the ₦1 million prize pool. Vent Esports (92 points) and Team Supreme (86 points) secured second and third place, respectively.  

“Effectively, what we’re calling is ₦5 million. The cash prize portion of it is ₦1 million, and then the players get pretty much all their logistics, accommodation, all covered as part of the tournament. We have players from 11 states represented here. For us, it’s a significant growth from ₦250,000 in the first edition,” said Onigbanjo.  

The first two editions of the Deca Cup tournament were held online, with its first-ever physical outing last year. This year, it doubles down by infusing ComicCon elements into the event, expanding its appeal to both gamers and non-gamers.  

“I think as you scale, you have new challenges. So, Free Fire was a really small community when we started. The next step for us is really, how do we start tying all of this together? One of the things that we’re actually doing today is: there’s a collaboration between Carbon and Infinix and 10N8E,” added Onigbanjo. “It’s really to offer the audience, gamers and fans, an opportunity to acquire a device with financing provided by Carbon, giving you the opportunity to pay over a longer period of time. For us, the synergy has to be how do we bring this community together to help them, to empower our players.”  

The tournament’s branding as a milestone for ‘African Esports’ and its record-breaking scale hint at ambitions beyond Nigeria. While West African expansion remains unconfirmed, industry observers note the region’s untapped potential aligns with the organiser’s pan-African rhetoric. For now, it’s focused on discovering the Burna of the Esports realm.