ESL Challenger Katowice set to start

s1mple will make his LAN return at the Polish event, which will have a Pro League spot on offer.

s1mple is about to make his LAN return

The final ESL Challenger event of the year will kick off Friday in Katowice, Poland, where eight teams will battle it out for the first prize of $50,000 and a spot in ESL Pro League Season 21.

The Polish tournament will mark the LAN debut of three players for their new teams, most notably Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev. The Ukrainian superstar, who played two matches in the Thunderpick World Championship earlier this week, has not competed on LAN since Natus Vincere's second-place finish in ESL Pro League 18, exactly a year ago.

Moreover, Lucas "⁠Lucaozy⁠" Neves will make his first LAN appearance for MIBR, and André "⁠Ag1l⁠" Gil will attend his first LAN event for SAW after replacing Rafael "⁠arrozdoce⁠" Wing in the starting lineup.

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ESL Challenger Katowice will kick off with a double-elimination group stage, featuring a best-of-one format in the opening and winners' stages, followed by the single-elimination playoffs.

Below you can find the groups and the schedule for the first round:

Group A

SAW

B8

Eternal Fire

Falcons

Group B

paiN

Monte

Legacy

MIBR

Date	Matches
ESL Challenger Katowice 2024
25/10/2024	Eternal Fire 12:00 B8	Match
25/10/2024	Falcons 13:30 SAW	Match
25/10/2024	Monte 14:45 paiN	Match
25/10/2024	MIBR 16:00 Legacy	Match

ESL Challenger Katowice will feature several familiar faces on the broadcast team, including Sam "⁠Tech Girl⁠" Wright as desk host, Mike "⁠DarfMike⁠" Winnick as stage host, and Geordie "⁠Mac⁠" McAleer as analyst. The full talent list can be found here.