ESL One Cologne viewer's guide

With ESL One Cologne set to kick off on Tuesday, we have put together a comprehensive viewer's guide for the $300,000 event.

ESL One Cologne will take place on July 2-7, when 16 teams from around the world will face off for their share of the prize pool and a point towards the Intel Grand Slam Season 2, currently led by Liquid at three points.

The tournament features two GSL groups of eight teams, seeded according to ESL's CS:GO World Ranking. The squads will initially square off in best-of-one matches, while the remaining matchups will be played in a best-of-three format.

The top three sides from each group will then progress to the single-elimination, best-of-three playoffs, at the Lanxess Arena. The group winners will proceed straight to the semi-finals, while the second and third-placed sides from each group will secure a quarter-final spot as the high and low seeds, respectively. The event will culminate with a best-of-five grand final on Sunday at 16:00

The groups for ESL One Cologne are the following:

Below you can find the complete schedule for the tournament:

Tuesday, July 2
12:00 - Liquid vs. MVP PK | BO1
12:00 - Natus Vincere vs. MOUZ | BO1
13:10 - FaZe vs. Renegades | BO1
13:10 - FURIA vs. NRG | BO1
14:20 - Astralis vs. BIG | BO1
14:20 - MIBR vs. fnatic | BO1
15:30 - Vitality vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas | BO1
15:30 - ENCE vs. HEROIC | BO1
16:40 - Group A lower-bracket round 1 | BO3
16:40 - Group A upper-bracket semi-final #1 | BO3
20:10 - Group A lower-bracket round 1 | BO3
20:10 - Group A upper-bracket semi-final #2 | BO3

Wednesday, July 3
12:00 - Group B lower-bracket round 1 | BO3
12:00 - Group B lower-bracket round 1 | BO3
15:30 - Group A lower-bracket semi-final #1 | BO3
15:30 - Group B upper-bracket semi-final #1 | BO3
19:00 - Group A lower-bracket semi-final #2 | BO3
19:00 - Group B upper-bracket semi-final #2 | BO3

Thursday, July 4
12:00 - Group B lower-bracket semi-final #1 | BO3
12:00 - Group B lower-bracket semi-final #2 | BO3
15:30 - Group A upper-bracket final | BO3
15:30 - Group A lower-bracket final | BO3
19:00 - Group B upper-bracket final | BO3
19:00 - Group B lower-bracket final | BO3

Friday, July 5
15:00 - Quarter-Final #1 | BO3
18:50 - Quarter-Final #2 | BO3

Saturday, July 6
15:00 - Semi-Final #1 | BO3
18:50 - Semi-Final #2 | BO3

Sunday, July 7
16:00 - Grand Final | BO5

The on-air talent lineup is as follows:

OJ Borg - Stage Host

Alex "Machine" Richardson - Desk Host

Tres "stunna" Saranthus - Interviewer

Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill - Analyst
Duncan "Thorin" Shields - Analyst
Jason "moses" O'Toole - Analyst
Jacob "Pimp" Winneche - Analyst

Anders Blume - Commentator
Henry "HenryG" Greer - Commentator
Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett - Commentator