ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe groups announced

The organizers have announced the group stage distribution for the European division of ESL Pro League Season 12.

The group stage of the European division will be played in a round robin best-of-three format from September 1-19, with the top-four teams from each group earning a berth in the double-elimination playoffs.

Current No.1 team in the world, BIG, have been placed in Group A, where they will hope to recover from an early exit at ESL One Cologne among teams such as G2 and HEROIC, who have so far looked successful at the opening tournament of the new season.

BIG will hope to turn their luck around after the early exit at Cologne

Meanwhile, a rather stacked Group B features Cologne playoff finishers Complexity, Astralis, and Ninjas in Pyjamas, alongside Vitality and FaZe, who are also still alive in the tournament as they're set to clash in a lower bracket series for one of the last two spots in the ESL One bracket play.

The groups have been distributed as follows:

Group A
BIG
G2
Natus Vincere
HEROIC
OG
GODSENT
ENCE
AGO

Group B
Vitality
Complexity
FaZe
fnatic
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Astralis
MOUZ
Spirit

The group stage of the league will be played in sets of three matches every day apart from Monday from September 1-18 before it comes to a close with a "super-day" featuring eight matches on September 19. The playoffs will then follow and culminate with a best-of-five grand final on October 4.

The group stage's initial round's schedule is:

Tuesday, September 1
14:00 Natus Vincere vs. GODSENT
17:30 G2 vs. OG
21:00 BIG vs. AGO

Wednesday, September 2
14:00 HEROIC vs. ENCE
17:30 Vitality vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
21:00 FaZe vs. MOUZ

Thursday, September 3
14:00 fnatic vs. Spirit
17:30 Complexity vs. Astralis