ESL Pro League Season 12 to be held online; Malta to host 2021 events
The coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on esports events as ESL's showpiece competition will not take place on LAN as the tournament organiser initially wished for.
ESL unveiled on Thursday more details about the future of the ESL Pro League. The tournament will be split into regional online divisions for Season 12 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, returning to a LAN setting in 2021, when both seasons will take place in Malta.
Season 12 will cover all major regions — Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania, and South America — and will be played between September 1 and October 6. Europe will have the lion's share ($450,000) of the season's $750,000 prize pool, followed by North America, with $225,000. The remaining three regions will each have $25,000 on offer.

ESL had announced in June that it would host the entirety of Season 12 on LAN with 24 teams if players were able "travel safely without larger restrictions". Fans got their hopes up accordingly, but their optimism waned when it was revealed that this year's ESL One Cologne event — which was originally scheduled to start less than two weeks before the Pro League — would have to be held online because of the global health crisis.
Below you can find the team list for ESL Pro League Season 12:
Europe
North America
South America
Oceania
Asia
Malta had been selected as the host country for ESL Pro League Season 11 before the tournament was moved online and was also due to stage Season 12, HLTV.org understands. But despite the setback, ESL and GamingMalta, a non-profit foundation set up by the government of Malta and by the Malta Gaming Authority, were able to agree on an extension to their strategic partnership, which aims "to foster and develop the Maltese esports community," according to ESL.
"The agreement with GamingMalta enables us to offer an amazing setting to the worldwide esports community," ESL CEO Ralf Reichert said in a statement. "Malta is a progressive country with its finger on the digital pulse combined with a beautiful Mediterranean ambient which partnered with us for a phenomenal 11th season of the world’s largest professional esports league in CS:GO. We couldn't be more excited for this partnership to bring the growth of esports and beauty even more together."
In 2021, both Pro League seasons will feature the format announced in January, with 24 teams, including the 13 partners who signed what was called the "Louvre Agreement" following a meeting in Paris. According to ESL, fans from all over the world will have access to special travel and ticket packages to be able to experience the action live in Malta.











TBD


Kaleb 'moose' Jayne
Issa 'ISSAA' Murad
Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Simon 'Sico' Williams
Pavle 'Maden' Bošković
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad

Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Helvijs 'broky' Saukants
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov
Andrew 'kaze' Khong
Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev
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