IEM Cologne team list finalized: 12 highest-ranked squads in competition

As the Play-In phase has been concluded, ESL revealed the bracket draw for the group stage which sees Gambit face MOUZ in the first round.

MOUZ and Spirit were the two last teams to advance from the IEM Cologne Play-In on Wednesday, completing the 16-team list of competitors for the main stage of the $1,000,000 tournament.

Ninjas in Pyjamas, BIG, Complexity, and Vitality are some of the name that also qualified throught the play-in, joining the likes of Gambit, Natus Vincere, and G2 who were invited directly to the main stage. With that, 14 of the 15 best-ranked teams in the world are at IEM Cologne, with only OG missing out after an upset loss to Renegades.

Gambit play the first game of the main stage vs. mouz

Unlike the Play-In, the group stage of IEM Cologne won't feature BO1 matches, with the action starting off with Gambit - MOUZ and Liquid - Ninjas in Pyjamas clashing in BO3 series on Thursday. Alongside them, four more teams are in group A: Virtus.pro, BIG, G2, and Complexity.

Read more: Back to LAN: five key storylines of IEM Cologne

The biggest surprise of Cologne, scrappy underdogs Renegades (ranked No. 50) will face Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and co. in their first match, while Lucas "⁠honda⁠" Cano will have his LAN debut against Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut's Vitality. The two Danish sides, Astralis and HEROIC, will play their first matches on Friday, against FaZe and Spirit, respectively.

The group bracket draw is as follows:

Group A

13:30 Russia Gambit vs. Europe MOUZ (Thursday)
13:30 United States Liquid vs. Sweden Ninjas in Pyjamas (Thursday)
16:45 World Virtus.pro vs. Germany BIG (Thursday)
16:45 Europe G2 vs. Europe Complexity (Thursday)

Group B

20:00 Russia Natus Vincere vs. Australia Renegades (Thursday)
20:00 Brazil FURIA vs. France Vitality (Thursday)
13:30 Denmark Astralis vs. Europe FaZe (Friday)
13:30 Denmark HEROIC vs. Russia Spirit (Friday)

A double-elimination format will be used for the group stage, with three teams from each group advancing to the playoffs. Group winners will advance directly to the semi-finals, while the runners-up will face off against runners-up from the other group in the round-of-six.

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France Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Age:
20
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.28
Maps played:
837
KPR:
0.85
DPR:
0.62
Brazil Lucas 'honda' Cano
Lucas 'honda' Cano
Age:
20
Team:
Rating 1.0:
0.84
Maps played:
47
KPR:
0.55
DPR:
0.69
Ukraine Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev
Age:
23
Rating 1.0:
1.24
Maps played:
1400
KPR:
0.85
DPR:
0.64
#1
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Sweden Exorzon
Nice
2021-07-08 00:25
0
19 replies
Omg what a performance from chrisJ
2021-07-08 00:26
0
8 replies
this will be so ez 4 zywoo
2021-07-08 00:28
0
3 replies
zywoo onliner
2021-07-08 00:29
0
#20
 | 
Ukraine d3adLY
Denmark!!
2021-07-08 00:38
0
1 reply
xd
2021-07-08 00:57
0
godj
2021-07-08 00:38
0
1 reply
LANJ
2021-07-08 01:00
0
+1
2021-07-08 01:43
0
+1 chrisj MVP of PGL Stockholm Major.
2021-07-08 02:18
0
NaVi will lose
2021-07-08 00:27
0
8 replies
Funny they put 4 of top 6 teams in group A just to make it easier for NaVi.
2021-07-08 01:34
0
7 replies
Nah first round chokers Renegades are gonna send them to LB
2021-07-08 06:08
0
NaVi was always gonna shit both on G2 and NiP. There are zero top teams in Group A apart from Gambit. The only team NaVi would lose is Gambit but they couldn’t play on Day 1 :)
2021-07-08 07:40
0
Heroic will be a problem, since they are still onliners and playing from bootcamp...
2021-07-08 09:14
0
4 replies
No, they are playing on the same LAN, from their hotel rooms.
2021-07-08 11:14
0
3 replies
Its basically the same, only thing that changed is the room
2021-07-08 11:57
0
2 replies
The main aspects of online were high ping (peeker's advantage), packet corruptions, packet losses, bugs and cheats, non-uniform gaming PCs, etc. In this case, everyone is on almost 0 ping, no packet losses or corruptions, no bugs and cheats, same PCs for everyone, etc. It is literally a LAN connection. I agree that it's not ideal, but it's still definitely LAN.
2021-07-08 12:01
0
No crowd so it doesn't even matter
2021-07-08 13:33
0
#66
 | 
Australia B_Tannen
Yeah the boys!
2021-07-08 02:29
0
#2
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
jackasmo | 
Russia *Tpo-_-JI.b*
Lez Go!
2021-07-08 00:25
0
1 reply
I WAS HERE
2021-07-08 13:03
0
#4
fnx | 
Russia aekz
GLHF
2021-07-08 00:26
0
#5
 | 
Peru ndrearg
GAAAA lets go
2021-07-08 00:27
0
#6
 | 
Argentina Caitofaze
FaZe Time!
2021-07-08 00:27
0
#8
 | 
Czech Republic Ventraks
pls help guys I have slow internet and I want watch all matches
2021-07-08 00:28
0
5 replies
Watch from youtube
2021-07-08 01:08
0
watch highlights on YT by matz, don't go to the comment section
2021-07-08 05:15
0
Watch hltv live feed
2021-07-08 06:22
0
1 reply
#103
 | 
France MarcoXY
+1
2021-07-08 08:50
0
Watch highlights from Fraakarts yt
2021-07-08 08:02
0
ez for endpoint
2021-07-08 00:28
0
agony
2021-07-08 00:29
0
Gambit > mouse Liquid < Nip Vp > big G2 > compl Navi > renegades Furia < vitality Astralis > faze Heroic > spirit
2021-07-08 00:35
0
17 replies
Yes No Yes No No Yes No Yes
2021-07-08 01:02
0
6 replies
#52
 | 
Brazil qirdeN^
+1
2021-07-08 01:21
0
#54
 | 
Peru tosta
+1
2021-07-08 01:29
0
Lets see who was more right
2021-07-08 01:30
0
G2 gonna lose vs comp? Nice joke. Ur probably still think niko was the problem.
2021-07-08 09:16
0
2 replies
flair
2021-07-08 12:55
0
niko not only was, but still IS the problem
2021-07-09 21:12
0
#61
 | 
United States NeoFana
YES NO 50/50 YES YES 50/50 50/50 50/50
2021-07-08 02:21
0
Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
2021-07-08 06:40
0
#111
 | 
Turkey razendd_
Head to head Vp 4 - 9 BIG Also BIG will play better as the tournament is in Germany
2021-07-08 09:30
0
3 replies
Yea big game will be risky one
2021-07-08 09:34
0
2 replies
#136
 | 
Turkey razendd_
gg bro
2021-07-08 19:55
0
1 reply
yea, this was the riskiest choise, im not a betting man so its fine tho.
2021-07-08 20:07
0
Gambit > Mouz NiP > Liquid (But close series) Big > Vp G2 > CoL NaVi > RNG Vitality > Furia FaZe > Astralis Heroic > Spirit (but prob the closest series of them all, 50/50 IMO)
2021-07-08 11:05
0
3 replies
as a FaZe fan i hope that they win - but the odds are againts them in my mind.
2021-07-08 11:23
0
2 replies
No doubt in my mind. This is the best possible matchup FaZe could have got except Furia, Astralis with no key awper been struggling and I don't think LAN will make them any better, maybe a bit in terms of confedence and a refreshing feeling but I think FaZe should have the edge overall and I see a pretty convincing win for them.
2021-07-08 14:11
0
1 reply
they played well few days ago, im expecting that xyp will improve now
2021-07-08 14:12
0
OG LMAOOO
2021-07-08 00:37
0
1 reply
#40
 | 
Denmark theHeniek
Everything fucked up, am I right?
2021-07-08 01:07
0
sadge i have 4 tests next week will have to watch it from eventvods.com :(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
2021-07-08 00:37
0
2 replies
#96
 | 
Latvia doug_water
#sponsored
2021-07-08 08:16
0
1 reply
lol not really, i hope they are not on a hiatus tho because i will end it all if i have to spoil it.
2021-07-08 10:22
0
#17
 | 
Brazil 1930
i miss NA cs..
2021-07-08 00:37
0
#18
 | 
Russia ToughGuy
man navi rly got lucky with the bracket like if they won't choke it's free pass to the semi final
2021-07-08 00:37
0
4 replies
#23
 | 
North America hi_mens))
Someone had to get the matchup. I'm hoping for a liquid v navi final so GL to them!
2021-07-08 00:40
0
3 replies
#30
 | 
Denmark pebblez
+1 Btw pls liquid rekt NiP, thank u will be cheering for u
2021-07-08 00:50
0
1 reply
#62
 | 
United States NeoFana
Thx mens, G2 will rek BaitF and Bot Rush, Godfig can only do so much Niko looked crisp on FPL
2021-07-08 02:22
0
#81
 | 
United States irnak2
+1 liquid vs navi is always insane
2021-07-08 05:41
0
#21
 | 
Ukraine d3adLY
Navi ez
2021-07-08 00:38
0
1 reply
#49
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Ukraine Xe0m
no
2021-07-08 01:15
0
Go, go Spirit!
2021-07-08 00:39
0
they forgot to put fnatic in the pic with the teams lol oh nvm.. 😢
2021-07-08 00:41
0
#25
 | 
France ciORAN_NT
Awesome matchups
2021-07-08 00:41
0
So between Gambit, NiP, Mouz, and Liquid one of them is guaranteed to bomb out :(
2021-07-08 00:42
0
1 reply
#63
 | 
United States NeoFana
In order of least likely to most Gambit Liquid NiP Mousesports
2021-07-08 02:23
0
#27
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
f0rest | 
Asia archimedes123
Gambit Nip Big G2 Na'vi Vitality Faze Spirit To win their opening matches 😁
2021-07-08 00:47
0
So excited to see Gambıt in actıon!
2021-07-08 00:48
0
damn could be world's 16 best teams if OG didn't fail to qualify
2021-07-08 00:50
0
7 replies
No, you forgot about Entropiq instead of Faze edit: Changed Renegades on Faze
2021-07-08 01:15
0
6 replies
I'm not talking about rankings, imo FaZe is better than Entropiq
2021-07-08 01:15
0
5 replies
#67
Faceit level 10  | 
Belgium RobinDG
Its sad they didnt invite any top 10 teams for cologne this year
2021-07-08 02:49
0
no
2021-07-08 02:58
0
2 replies
we don't know how good Entropiq will be on LAN against the best teams, also they sadly fail in the most important matches FaZe, at the same time, have players with huge amount of experience on top level which showed what they are capable of many times. Also most of their recent online losses were really close and could have gone other way. After all, its just my opinion
2021-07-08 12:22
0
1 reply
You can have your opinion and i have all the respect you deserve for you and your opinion but i thing youre wrong Krad an Forester have big lan experience (they played a major) and the 3 others members did a lot of T2 lan So i think that they can stay that good i Lan ! Wish you a good day
2021-07-08 12:28
0
Kek
2021-07-08 05:32
0
Furia take this
2021-07-08 00:52
0
#32
 | 
Chad Journalism
If OG would've made it we would have the top 15 teams in the world Damn
2021-07-08 00:52
0
Nice lets go FURIAAAA lets go teacher FalleN take my energy boysss
2021-07-08 00:56
0
#35
 | 
Georgia offonyes
4 teams from cis...
2021-07-08 00:58
0
#37
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
Australia frogskate
Renegades upset Navi
2021-07-08 01:00
0
Renegades gonna show who is real top 12
2021-07-08 01:04
0
#42
 | 
United States vip3r_k1ng
Renegades 2-1 Natus Vincere Renegades 2-1 FURIA Renegades 2-1 Heroic ez
2021-07-08 01:12
0
Tough time for onliners... No wonder if Gambit loose their first match, chance for mouz!!!
2021-07-08 01:13
0
1 reply
See you online Mouze... fcking LANERS
2021-07-08 11:17
0
scheduling two matches at the same time is ridiculous for the Cologne!
2021-07-08 01:13
0
1 reply
#64
 | 
United States NeoFana
Seriously what the fucking fuck. Gambit v Mouse and NiP v Liquid are both fucking insane, why both?
2021-07-08 02:24
0
lol navi lucky
2021-07-08 01:15
0
#48
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Lithuania sqvar3
Ez 4 sOmple
2021-07-08 01:15
0
#50
 | 
Russia pochesun
of course botus vincere get the lowest seeded team :))) ahhaha and of course they got the easiest bracket.
2021-07-08 01:24
0
2 replies
#65
 | 
United States NeoFana
Lul they need those s0mple fanboys or else, if they matched with Liquid or Gambit itd be gg
2021-07-08 02:24
0
1 reply
#79
 | 
New Zealand SWARN151
Group B has Vitality, Navi, Heroic, Spirit, LAN Astralis, and Furia is also a great team. How is that easy? Group A has Gambit, but it's their first ever LAN. They might need some time to adjust. Liquid has not really hung with Top-tier EU competition, since last year. They haven't even gone beyond Top4 in any EU event. G2 and CoL are fine teams.
2021-07-08 05:36
0
#51
 | 
Brazil InViktor
Gambit > Mouse Liquid X Nip Vp < Big G2 > compl Navi > renegades Furia X Vitality Astralis > Faze Heroic > spirit
2021-07-08 01:19
0
1 reply
+1
2021-07-08 09:31
0
#53
 | 
Poland Cryzilian
Too many bangers
2021-07-08 01:28
0
Gambit < Mouz (close match ) My flair xD Liquid > NIP (Liquid back on track ) VP < BIG ( IDK BIG kinda seem like playing really good) G2 > Col (only konfig can save them ) Navi > renegades ( Speedrun) Furia > Vita ( spicy match ) Ast < Faze ( I have no idea favored faze cause ast no awp) Heroic > Spirit ( if heroic play like they usually do . gg) LAN PepeLaugh
2021-07-08 01:32
0
1 reply
Seems about right except for Furia Vita match, I still think Zywoo will carry.
2021-07-08 02:19
0
13th is OG lol
2021-07-08 03:34
0
EZ4NAVI
2021-07-08 03:50
0
Shhhhh mouz cs gambit…I scared
2021-07-08 04:09
0
GL Vitality 🔥Kyojin GL Na'Vi 🔥b1t333 GL Heroic 🔥 teses
2021-07-08 04:33
0
Let's go G2!!!!
2021-07-08 04:59
0
#75
 | 
Australia sh4ww
of course renegades against navi first
2021-07-08 05:02
0
1 reply
#119
 | 
Australia Beard43
Yeah tough af for the boys but on the bright side, there's no risk of going out without having the chance to face the best!
2021-07-08 11:04
0
Fuck OG, should have given the spot to entropiq or forze
2021-07-08 05:34
0
Group A is stacked while group B is a cakewalk for NaVi Why are the groups so imbalanced
2021-07-08 05:37
0
6 replies
+What a joke
2021-07-08 05:48
0
No it’s not. Group A is a walking cakewalk. Apart from Gambit, NiP and G2 (very debatable) exactly zero consistent top teams
2021-07-08 07:45
0
4 replies
>gambit >inconsistent choose one
2021-07-08 07:55
0
1 reply
You Are Dumb Learn to read
2021-07-08 08:52
0
flag checks out Just going by the HLTV rankings Group A is much stronger, while teams like mouz and liquid havent played many tournaments hence their rankings are lower than they should be. While Group B even has renegades a tier 3 team
2021-07-08 08:18
0
1 reply
Hltv rankings lol. Mouz and TL is not some top tier opposition. Calm down. As I said there is exactly two consistent top teams in Group A with G2 being somewhere around 50/50 Mouz is only considered good by ropzstans on hltv
2021-07-08 08:55
0
is this with crowd?
2021-07-08 06:24
0
3 replies
no
2021-07-08 06:35
0
2 replies
And in the final?
2021-07-08 09:09
0
1 reply
no
2021-07-08 20:14
0
Feels bad for NA cs, very dead only one team
2021-07-08 07:08
0
GAMBIT VS MOUZ GONNA BE SUPERHOT!!!! How will Gambit manage on LAN????? Million dollar question, I guess we'll find out today....
2021-07-08 07:48
0
#93
Faceit level 10  | 
Dosia | 
Russia Rapu
Gambit > mousesports Liquid < NIP Virtus.pro > BIG G2 > Complexity Natus Vincere > Renegades FURIA > Vitality Astralis < FaZe Heroic < Spirit
2021-07-08 07:55
0
2 replies
Almost everything wrong xD
2021-07-08 08:47
0
1 reply
#116
Faceit level 10  | 
Dosia | 
Russia Rapu
We will see :)
2021-07-08 10:20
0
#94
 | 
Netherlands dabadpad
Final Gambit vs NaVi again.. boring
2021-07-08 07:59
0
Gambit on LAN? I aren't think that
2021-07-08 08:45
0
What a pog tournament. I can feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins. Let's GO Faze Clan. Let's take down Gambot Navi.....
2021-07-08 08:46
0
Lets go Vitality
2021-07-08 08:46
0
Looks sick.
2021-07-08 08:50
0
#106
 | 
South Africa Ray_ZA
Mouz always seems to draw the shortest stick, RIP. One of the final matches yesterday and one of the first matches today against the best team in the world.
2021-07-08 09:06
0
#110
 | 
Russia evg1804
Let's go, Team Spirit!
2021-07-08 09:25
0
Go NAVI and s1m "goat" ple
2021-07-08 09:34
0
oof
2021-07-08 09:52
0
OMEGALUL G ONLINER GAMERS
2021-07-08 10:45
0
#121
 | 
Australia Beard43
Go the Renegades!!
2021-07-08 11:11
0
7 Aussies! Woohoo!
2021-07-08 13:03
0
#135
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Poland SebL
Honestly I think it's going to be a huge surprise this event, I think Heroic is taking this one, I think it's going to surprise a lot of ppl, but they had a lot of time to prepare, and I think they are going to get that one.
2021-07-08 18:20
0
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