PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 teams, format, schedule, prizes, talent, fantasy

PGL are handing out $1.25m to 16 teams in their first tier one standalone event since 2015.

Counter-Strike returns to Cluj a decade after DreamHack's 2015 Major

Teams and format

16 teams are heading to Romania, with FaZe and Eternal Fire being the highest-ranked teams to accept invitations after Natus Vincere, Spirit, Vitality, and G2 opted to skip.

We will also see the debut of MOUZ with Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi in place of Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek, and the return of Timur "⁠FL4MUS⁠" Marev to Virtus.pro after visa issues ruled him out of Katowice's playoffs.

Imperial Valkyries were a late addition to the team list after FURIA's withdrawal, and need to make the most of the opportunity in order to climb back into the top 25 of the Valve Global Standings.

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Imperial fe to step in as FURIA withdraw from PGL Cluj-Napoca

PGL are running a bold all best-of-three Swiss system as the tournament format with eight series a day for the first three rounds. We've not seen anything similar at a top LAN since 2019's StarSeries S7 in 2019, where Natus Vincere beat fnatic in the final.

They are also hosting a third-place decider with an extra $63,500 (and the VRS points that money brings) up for grabs.

Team list

Eternal Fire
The MongolZ
Virtus.pro
Falcons
3DMAX
BIG
FlyQuest
SAW

FaZe
MOUZ
Astralis
paiN
MIBR
Wildcard
Complexity
Imperial Valkyries

Schedule and venues

The Swiss group stage will take place at PGL's studios in Bucharest before the eight playoff teams move to the 10,000 seater BT Arena in Cluj-Napoca — the same, albeit renamed, venue DreamHack used for their 2015 Major.

Matches start on Valentines Day, February 14, with five days of groups, two days off, and then three days of playoffs (with all four quarter-finals on February 21) to conclude.

Because of the volume of matches, it's an early start time of 09:00 (10am local) for the first few rounds of Swiss. Here are the day one matchups in full:

Date	Matches
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025
14/02/2025	MOUZ 09:00 BIG	Match
14/02/2025	3DMAX 09:50 Virtus.pro	Match
14/02/2025	FaZe 11:20 SAW	Match
14/02/2025	Falcons 13:10 FlyQuest	Match
14/02/2025	The MongolZ 13:15 Complexity	Match
14/02/2025	paiN 15:15 Astralis	Match
14/02/2025	MIBR 15:20 Wildcard	Match
14/02/2025	Eternal Fire 17:50 Imperial Valkyries	Match

See the full schedule on the event page here.

Prizes

All $1,250,000 on offer will be distributed via the prize pool, with no BLAST or ESL style club rewards.

1. $400,000
2. $187,500
3. $150,000
4. $87,500
5-8. $62,500
9-11. $31,250
12-14. $18,750
15-16. $12,500

Broadcast team

Desk Hosts:

Richard "⁠Richard Lewis⁠" Lewis
Tres "⁠stunna⁠" Saranthus

Analysts:

Alex "⁠Mauisnake⁠" Ellenberg
Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche
Sudhen "⁠Bleh⁠" Wahengbam
Dustin "⁠dusT⁠" Mouret

Richard Lewis will lead PGL's broadcast coverage

Commentators:

Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill (On site)
Alex "⁠Machine⁠" Richardson (On site)
Mohan "⁠launders⁠" Govindasamy (On site)
Conner "⁠Scrawny⁠" Girvan (On site)
Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole (Remote)
Adam "⁠Dinko⁠" Hawthorne (Remote)
Hugo "⁠Hugo⁠" Byron (Remote)
Harry "⁠JustHarry⁠" Russell (Remote)

Content/Interviews:

James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks

Fantasy

Fantasy is live for the group stage now, with users making Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli the most-picked player. The game will have season points and the following prizes by Chicken.GG:

1st. Hydra Gloves | Mangrove (Field-Tested)
2nd. AK-47 | Neon Rider (Field-Tested)
3rd. M4A1-S | Atomic Alloy (Field-Tested)

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New fantasy season starts with $10,000 in prizes