IEM Sydney schedule announced

20-4-2017 14:47

ESL has announced the format of the group stage and the schedule for the upcoming IEM event in Sydney, Australia.

IEM Sydney will be held on May 3-7 and will feature three out of the current top four teams in the world: Astralis, FaZe and SK.

The tournament will kick off with an eight-team Swiss system group stage, similar to the one that was used at ESL One New York last year. The attending teams will compete for one of the four playoffs spots in the ESL studios on Wednesday and Thursday, with a break day following on Friday.

MSL's troops will take on OpTic in the first match of the Swiss group stage

After a day off, the action will move to the Qudos Bank Arena for the playoffs, where the four best teams from the group stage will battle it out in a single-elimination bracket. The semi-final matches will be played as BO3's, while the grand final will be a BO5.

The full schedule is available below:

Wednesday, May 3rd
05:00	North	vs. OpTic	BO1
06:10	SK	vs. ViCi	BO1
07:20	Astralis	vs. Chiefs	BO1
08:30	FaZe	vs. Renegades	BO1
09:40	Swiss Round 2 Match 1		BO1
10:50	Swiss Round 2 Match 2		BO1
12:00	Swiss Round 2 Match 3		BO1
13:10	Swiss Round 2 Match 4		BO1

Thursday, May 4th
05:00	Swiss Round 3 Match 1		BO1
06:10	Swiss Round 3 Match 2		BO1
07:20	Swiss Round 3 Match 3		BO1
08:30	Swiss Round 3 Match 4		BO1
09:40	Swiss Round 4 Match 1		BO1
10:50	Swiss Round 4 Match 2		BO1
12:00	Swiss Round 4 Match 3		BO1
13:00	Swiss Round 5 Match 1		BO1
14:20	Swiss Round 5 Match 2*		BO1
	*If required

Saturday, May 6th
07:00	Semi-Final #1		BO3
10:50	Semi-Final #2		BO3

Sunday, May 7th
05:00	Showmatch
07:00	Grand Final		BO5

ESL noted that the match starting times are estimated and that they may vary due to the length of the games. Also, for visitors, the doors of the Qudos Bank Arena will be opening at 12:00 local for both days of the playoffs.

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.

ez 4 vici

2017-04-20 14:47

5 replies

ez af for fa ze

2017-04-20 15:09

Why always china vs Brazil??

2017-04-20 17:36

3 replies

Lol

2017-04-20 22:29

Idk why they always make Chinese vs SK/IMT

2017-04-21 08:57

r u mad?

2017-04-25 02:11

2 Ez

2017-04-20 14:48

1 reply

-1

rip

cool

no more tournaments in australia look the time zone who will watch this ?

australians nice to have one event every 3 years dont you think

2017-04-20 14:49

1st game is at 6 am for me. Perfect.

2017-04-20 14:59

I'm living the same time zone as Sydney. 1st match at 13-00 - its perfect))

2017-04-21 16:15

No G2 no party

RUN viCi

2017-04-20 14:50

Group stage will be played at decent hours for me, since ill be at classes in most games, but playoffs and fucking final at 6am gg

Lol 7 o clock cet? Are you serious australia? Even for your timezone it is incredibly early??? Why do you do that? Whats wrong with u?

2017-04-20 14:51

12 replies

Thats because of US timezone, there the games will be at night

2017-04-20 14:54

9 replies

So what.

2017-04-20 15:01

8 replies

Can't you do 1 + 1 ? A lot of views are from US and views are money m8

2017-04-20 15:20

7 replies

Lul. I'm glad that you can do 1+1, but do you think people who decided to host the tournament in AU didn't think about it?

2017-04-20 15:28

6 replies

"Thats because of US timezone, there the games will be at night" ??????????

2017-04-20 20:54

Who cares about US timezone...

2017-04-20 20:58

4 replies

"Can't you do 1 + 1 ? A lot of views are from US and views are money m8" Are you Dumb ? Holy shit

2017-04-20 21:02

2017-04-20 21:13

2 replies

ok, thats enough Bye

2017-04-20 21:17

I'm glad that you finally understand that organizers don't care about NA views. It wasn't easy for your brain, so that's enough indeed. Bye.

2017-04-20 21:19

Early wake up is good for your health. 7 am isn't so early though.

2017-04-20 15:02

Sure :D

2017-04-20 15:11

Can't watch :/

2017-04-20 14:52

Lol mad Brazilians, SK wont get out of the groups anyway you don't have to watch them

2017-04-20 14:53

Comments like this one make me watch, SK is the more discredited team in the world, they won two majors when nobody believe

2017-04-27 13:42

EZ RNG

2017-04-20 14:57

100 viewers in group stage RIP ESL

2017-04-20 15:10

LMFAO T1 CS vs Irrelevant CS

2017-04-20 15:14

LUL sk always meet china team

2017-04-20 15:21

AU timezone, best timezone <3

2017-04-20 15:23

GRAND FINAL - SUNDAY 2:00 AM FUCK THIS TIME ZONE

2017-04-20 15:24

u dont have to worry since sk wont be there.

2017-04-20 15:51

bro I like to watch cs, seeing sk just gets me nervous.

2017-04-20 16:39

what we deal with every other tourney, one every couple of years isn't going to kill you, hell just watch the vods later in the day if it is such a big deal for you

2017-04-21 07:09

09:40 Swiss Round 2 Match 1 BO1 10:50 Swiss Round 2 Match 3 BO1 12:00 Swiss Round 2 Match 4 BO1 13:10 Swiss Round 2 Match 5 BO1 Shouldn't it be Match 1 - 2 - 3 - 4?

2017-04-20 15:30

Professeur?!

2017-04-21 01:59

I was hoping to see some group matches but nope, bo* matches >.<

2017-04-20 15:40

Seriously ViCi instead of a top tier team...

2017-04-20 15:44

8 teams? wtf is this poverty shit

2017-04-20 15:56

Astralis will win

2017-04-20 16:00

Well... terrible schedule here. I'll pass this :P

2017-04-20 16:09

Wooooo morning schedule, not that bad! I thought it would be terrible for europeans!

2017-04-20 16:31

final 2am xD

2017-04-20 16:47

potentially can we see a 16-0 with this astralis vs chiefs?

2017-04-20 16:49

Iunno, chiefs been waiting their whole life for this, I'd say they'd have some pretty decent strats to get atleast 1 round..

2017-04-27 14:09

Final at 2am Ez

2017-04-20 16:56

Everyone shitting on Australian timezone, even tho we've put up with American and European timezones for the last 3 years without complaint. But as soon as one big match is in Aus, everyone starts having g a fucking whine like it's the end of the world Stfu and put up with it for one fucking tournament Thank u to all non-australians that understand this

2017-04-20 16:57

+1 People keep complaining (Ar Pe Braziliians people) "OMG fucking noooo scene shit time zone" Most Australian teams attending the one major-2 Most Brazilian teams attending the one major-1 Most Swedish teams attending the one major-2 Most Danish teams attending the one major-2 I rest my case

2017-04-20 23:03

fuck these times dude

2017-04-20 17:19

Fuck European times dude. This is the first time I can watch a game that's not NA, at reasonable hours. First time in yeara

2017-04-20 23:22

RNG beat FaZe confrim

2017-04-20 18:35

7am final ez

2017-04-20 18:48

rip timezones

2017-04-20 20:53

LOL @ all you whinging kids complaining about Timezone......I've been getting up at 2am-5am to watch Major tournaments in Euro for the last 3 years, harden the FUCK up, i'm sure you can handle doing it once. Fucken pleb cunts the lot of ya

2017-04-20 21:01

Nice IEM! thank you HLTV, we appreciate that! We smart, we loyal, we friendly, we are from BRAZIL! Kreygasm

2017-04-20 21:04

Chiefs could do alright in Swiss system since it's a lot of BO1s which is where they could upset.

2017-04-21 07:07

Everyone complaining about the times should understand that some regions like Oceania have to watch all other tournaments to those times, so have some respect.

2017-04-21 08:41

good time zone

2017-04-21 09:47

Everyone being whinny about the timezone, friggin get a life.

2017-04-22 03:43

bo5? bit overkill dont u think?

2017-04-24 00:47

This timezone is good to be honest! I like this morning schedule more then the Dreamhack Las Vegas late night schedule, watching SK - VP at 4 AM was super ResidentSleeper.

2017-04-24 08:38

oh yeah absolutely! Here the first match is 00:00 and the last is 08:10... On a fucking Wednesday. So if I wanna watch it I have to not sleep through the night. But yeah what can I do

2017-04-25 02:13

should i hate on ESL PRO LEAGUE S5 just cause it was in Brazil and the final vs at 00:00? no. You had summit, las vegas and major this year, enough is enough.

2017-04-25 15:37

Lmao @ all of you complaining about time zones, I don't give a shit thanks to insomnia.

2017-04-27 13:57

This "bad time zone" stuff triggers me so hard. :( The time is set to benefit players and spectators who will be at the venue, not upset kids who want to watch it from their bedroom on the other side of the world...

2017-04-27 14:00