ESL unveils 2025 circuit; pledges $22m+ investment through 2026

The tournament organizer has announced the location of only four of the seven events it has planned for next year.

ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) has announced the first details about its 2025 ESL Pro Tour, with five IEM stops and two ESL Pro League events planned for next year. Moreover, EFG has pledged a financial contribution of more than $22 million over the next two years toward the teams and players participating in the circuit, in addition to hospitality expenses.

Without surprise, 2025 will see the return of ESL's two most iconic events, IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne. These are the only Championship-level events, the highest tier of competition in the ESL Pro Tour, planned for 2025.

Despite fears that the ESL Pro League could be discontinued with the end of the partner leagues, EFG has announced that its flagship competition will return next year with two more editions, both of which will take place in Europe. There will be three Masters-level IEM stops, in Dallas, Chengdu, and a third in an as-yet undisclosed city.

Below are the seven events announced by ESL:

Championship-level events:

IEM Katowice - January 29-February 9
IEM Cologne - July 23-August 3

Masters-level events:

ESL Pro League 21 - February 25-March 16 (Location TBD)
IEM Spring - April 21-27 (Location TBD)
IEM Dallas - May 19-25
ESL Pro League 22 - September 23-October 12 (Location TBD)
IEM Chengdu - November 3-9

ESL also revealed more details about each event such as the format, slot distribution and qualifiers (or lack thereof).

ESL Pro League underwent the only major format change. The event will boast 24 teams (down from 32 in the past two years) and feature a Major-like format with two Swiss stages.

A more significant shift can be seen in how the participating teams will be decided. ESL has largely shifted away from qualifiers and will rely on the Valve Regional Standings to determine all participants of IEM Katowice, Spring, Cologne and Chengdu. Only IEM Dallas and the two Pro League seasons will boast qualifiers, for about half of the field.

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"The EPT for Counter-Strike 2 is the definition of EFG’s commitment to fostering a fruitful competitive environment and continually nourishing Counter-Strike’s heritage, as we’ve done since 2000," said Marc Winther, Director Game Ecosystems - Counter-Strike, at ESL FACEIT Group.

"With a circuit that spans multiple continents and integrates diverse levels of competition, we are excited to further fuel opportunities for world-class teams and passionate fans alike.”

EFG has another slot on the calendar locked in (August 20-24), which is expected to be next year's iteration of the Esports World Cup. The tournament organizer said that additional details about the events, as well as the complete breakdown of the $22 million financial contribution, will be announced later.

The ticket sale for IEM Katowice will begin on October 22 at 15:00 here. Tickets for IEM Cologne will go on sale exactly 48 hours later here.

Check out the event calendar

With ESL's announcement, the event schedule for 2025 is planned to be:

January 13-26 - BLAST Bounty
January 29-February 9 - IEM Katowice
February 13-23 - PGL Buenos Aires
February 13-23 - Skyesports Souvenir
February 25-March 16 - ESL Pro League 21
March 17-30 - BLAST Open Lisbon
April 3-13 - PGL Bucharest
April 15-20 - YaLLa Compass Spring
April 21-27 - IEM Spring
April 28-May 4 - BLAST Rivals
May 8-18 - PGL Astana
May 19-25 - IEM Dallas
May 26-June 1 - StarLadder StarSeries S19
May 26-June 1 - Skyesports Masters
June 9-22 - BLAST Austin Major

July 15-20 - FISSURE July
July 23-August 3 - IEM Cologne
August 4-17 - BLAST Bounty
August 20-24 - Unannounced ESL event
August 25-September 7 - BLAST Open London
September 9-21 - FISSURE September
September 13-21 - StarLadder StarSeries S20
September 15-21 - Skyesports Championship
September 23-October 12 - ESL Pro League 22
October 1-October 13 - CS Asia Championships
October 23-November 2 - PGL Belgrade
November 3-9 - IEM Chengdu
November 10-13 - Skyesports World Tour
November 10-16 - BLAST Rivals
November 18-23 - YaLLa Compass Fall
December 1-14 - Second Major