StarLadder shares details of second 2025 event

The Ukrainian tournament organizer is preparing to put together its first CS events in almost six years.

StarLadder has announced details regarding the latter of its two events in 2025, StarSeries Season 20, set to take place in Budapest, Hungary from September 13-21 where 20 teams will be vying for part of the $500,000 prize pool.

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The Hungarian event will feature two stages in the offline portion of the event, a 16-team group stage and an eight-team main event. The majority of the teams participating in the Tier 1 event will be procured from the Valve Ranking, with the invites starting from the top of the ranking.

The four highest-ranked sides who choose to attend will be headed straight to the main stage, while the next 12 invited teams will begin in the group stage.

The final four places in the offline group stage will be filled in by online qualifiers for the Americas and Europe, with the dates for those qualifiers set to be released by the end of 2024.

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The offline group stage is set to employ a GSL Groups format, where the top two sides in each group will face off for the four main events spots up for grabs. Meanwhile, the main event will make use of a BO3 double-elimination bracket.

StarSeries Season 20 is just one of four events that StarLadder announced in early April of this year, but it is the first to have concrete details regarding its location, format, and prize pool. StarLadder has yet to share this information for its earlier 2025 event, StarSeries Season 19, running from May 26-June 1, or for its two events slated for 2026.