Esports event organiser ESL is again gathering the best Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) teams from around the world to fight for a community funded prize pool of $250,000.
This will be based in Cologne at Gamescom from August 14th to 17th and follows ESL’s record-breaking Counter Strike event in the Spodek Arena (Katowice, Poland) earlier this year, where Polish team Virtus.pro won.
It generated 3.5 million combined viewer hours and over 6.2 million sessions recorded.
Ulrich Schulze, Managing Director of Pro Gaming at ESL, said: “After our thrilling event in Katowice, we are excited to once again host a tournament with a community funded prize pool. eSports is a great place to be right now and with the community growing as it is, we’re happy to be given the opportunity to showcase the best in competitive gaming once again. The biggest gaming event in the world is the perfect place to host the best CS:GO teams from all over the globe and all of us here at ESL are looking very much forward to what gamescom has to offer.”
Alexander Nehr, Product Manager at ESL, added: “Having watched the Finals in Katowice it will be absolutely brilliant to watch Virtus.pro and Ninjas in Pyjamas take the stage again in Cologne. With exciting teams such as Team Dignitas and HellRaisers, who constantly improve their gameplay to surprise their opponents, the tournament looks to be fantastic. Can’t wait to see which teams qualify in the coming weeks. You definitely don’t want to miss this tournament.”
Up-and-coming teams will have the opportunity to qualify for the tournament. The competition line-up will include the top eight teams from the Katowice event alongside eight teams decided by regional qualifiers (six from Europe, one from North America and one from Oceania/Australia).
The invited teams are as follows:
- Virtus.pro
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Team Dignitas
- Teamglobal (formerly LGB eSports)
- CompLexity Gaming
- HellRaisers
- Team LDLC.com
- Fnatic
For more information visit www.esl-one.com
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
