IEM Sydney teams, format, schedule, prizes, talent

IEM Sydney begins on Monday, bringing Counter-Strike 2 to the big stage for the first time. Here's everything you need to know about it.

After a four-year hiatus, IEM returns to Sydney, Australia next week. Taking place from October 16-22, the iconic tournament will serve as the first taste of what world-class competition looks like in Counter-Strike 2.

Read more

ESL tournaments to transition to CS2; IEM Sydney first big LAN

---

Participating teams and format

The 16 participating teams have been determined via a combination of partner slots, ESL ranking invites, and qualifiers. Among the most notable omissions are HEROIC and Astralis, who declined a ranking invite and are the only top-10 teams not present.

These have been distributed into two groups of eight, played in a double-elimination format. Best-of-ones will begin play in the opening round before best-of-threes take over for the rest of the tournament.

The winning team from each group will advance directly to the semi-finals of the single elimination playoffs, and the second and third-placed teams will make it to the quarter-finals.

---

Schedule, opening matchups

IEM Sydney will run from October 16-22. The group stage will take place on the first three days and will see two matches played simultaneously at all times from Monday to Wednesday, followed by the playoffs on Friday to Sunday.

The originally announced schedule has been amended to account for matches now being shorter as a result of the change from MR15 to MR12.

The starting times have been pushed as a result, to 03:30 on Monday, 04:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday, 07:30 for the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Friday and Saturday, and 09:30 for the grand final on Sunday. The last matches of the first five play days are scheduled to begin at 10:30 .

Below is the full schedule:

Date	Matches
IEM Sydney 2023
16/10/2023	Natus Vincere 03:30 Apeks	Match
16/10/2023	MOUZ 03:30 VERTEX	Match
16/10/2023	Vitality 04:30 BetBoom	Match
16/10/2023	FaZe 04:45 GamerLegion	Match
16/10/2023	ENCE 05:55 Lynn Vision	Match
16/10/2023	fnatic 06:20 Cloud9	Match
16/10/2023	G2 07:05 Grayhound	Match
16/10/2023	Monte 07:45 Complexity	Match
16/10/2023	Apeks 08:25 VERTEX	Match
16/10/2023	Natus Vincere 09:15 MOUZ	Match
16/10/2023	BetBoom 10:30 GamerLegion	Match
16/10/2023	Vitality 12:25 FaZe	Match
17/10/2023	Monte 04:30 Grayhound	Match
17/10/2023	Complexity 04:30 G2	Match
17/10/2023	Lynn Vision 07:30 Cloud9	Match
17/10/2023	ENCE 07:30 fnatic	Match
17/10/2023	Apeks 10:30 GamerLegion	Match
17/10/2023	Natus Vincere 11:05 FaZe	Match
18/10/2023	Complexity 04:30 Cloud9	Match
18/10/2023	Monte 04:30 fnatic	Match
18/10/2023	GamerLegion 07:30 FaZe	Match
18/10/2023	MOUZ 07:30 BetBoom	Match
18/10/2023	Monte 10:45 Complexity	Match
18/10/2023	G2 11:05 ENCE	Match
20/10/2023	BetBoom 07:30 Complexity	Match
20/10/2023	ENCE 10:30 FaZe	Match
21/10/2023	G2 07:30 Complexity	Match
21/10/2023	MOUZ 10:30 FaZe	Match
22/10/2023	Complexity 09:30 FaZe	Match

---

Prizes

A total of $250,000 will be on offer in prizemoney at IEM Sydney along with a spot at IEM Katowice in January-February next year:

1. $100,000 + IEM Katowice 2024 spot
2. $42,000
3-4. $20,000
5-6. $10,000
7-8. $6,000
9-12. $5,000
13-16. $4,000

---

Talent lineup

The following 15-man on-air team will bring you the action across ESL's official English broadcasts:

Hosts

Tres "⁠stunna⁠" Saranthus
Freya "⁠Freya⁠" Spiers

Analysts

Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović
Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović
Sudhen "⁠Bleh⁠" Wahengbam

Casters

Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill
Alex "⁠Machine⁠" Richardson
James "⁠BARDOLPH⁠" Bardolph
Alex "⁠hawka⁠" Hawkins
Jordan "⁠Elfishguy⁠" Mays
Mitchell "⁠pilski⁠" Pilipowski
Geordie "⁠Mac⁠" McAleer
James "jimNeso" Cowan

Arena

Mitch "⁠Conky⁠" Concanen
Anastasija "⁠Heccu⁠" Tolmačeva

---

HLTV coverage

HLTV will have photographer Radosław "MAKKU" Makuch and senior writer Danish "Nohte" Allana at IEM Sydney to provide coverage of the event from location in photos, videos, interviews and more.

From our team of writers back home, HLTV will offer daily live updated posts with highlights from the broadcast and around the tournament, match reports and stories, as well as player comments and other tidbits from IEM Sydney.