IEM Cologne teams, format, schedule, prizes, talent, fantasy

After an appetizer in Belgrade, the Counter-Strike circuit will now move to one of its hallmark events.

Vitality are aiming to win their second consecutive Cologne

Teams and format

IEM Cologne will once again be split into two stages, featuring a total of 24 teams. 16 teams will start in Stage 1 and fight to progress to Stage 2.

Stage 1 features FaZe, who have returned Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants to the active roster after a short stint with Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, as the highest-ranked team, with FISSURE Playground 1 finalists TYLOO and Astralis also in attendance.

Ninjas in Pyjamas and FlyQuest will also be making their debuts with their new signings, namely Kacper "⁠xKacpersky⁠" Gabara and Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage.

In Stage 2, several new-look top teams will make their first appearance and attempt to knock Vitality off their perch.

Spirit (Ivan "⁠zweih⁠" Gogin), Falcons (Maxim "⁠kyousuke⁠" Lukin), Natus Vincere (Drin "⁠makazze⁠" Shaqiri), and G2 (Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García and Matúš "⁠MATYS⁠" Šimko) will all take to the server for the first time.

The team list is as follows:

Stage 1:

FaZe
FURIA
paiN
Astralis
GamerLegion
3DMAX
Virtus.pro
TYLOO

Liquid
MIBR
HEROIC
B8
Complexity
BIG
Ninjas in Pyjamas
FlyQuest

Stage 2:

Group A
Vitality
G2
Falcons
The MongolZ

Group B
MOUZ
Natus Vincere
Aurora
Spirit

Schedule and venue

The tournament will be played from July 23-August 3, starting with Stage 1, which will be played over three days. Stage 2 will begin on July 26 and determine the six teams that enter the LANXESS Arena for the playoffs, set to take place from August 1-3.

Below is the schedule for the opening matches of Stage 1.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2025 Stage 1
23/07/2025	TYLOO 10:30 Virtus.pro	Match
23/07/2025	GamerLegion 10:30 Complexity	Match
23/07/2025	FlyQuest 13:00 FURIA	Match
23/07/2025	Astralis 13:00 B8	Match
23/07/2025	3DMAX 16:20 MIBR	Match
23/07/2025	FaZe 17:35 BIG	Match
23/07/2025	Ninjas in Pyjamas 18:25 HEROIC	Match
23/07/2025	Liquid 19:45 paiN	Match

For the full schedule, check out the Stage 1 and Stage 2 event pages.

Prizes

A total of $1,222,000 has been allocated to the prizepool of Stage 2, which will be split between the traditional prizemoney and club share in the following way:

1. $400,000 + $60,000 club share
2. $180,000 + $36,000 club share
3-4. $80,000 + $28,000 club share
5-6. $40,000 + $21,000 club share
7-8. $24,000 + $14,000 club share
9-12. $16,000 + $7,000 club share
13-16. $10,000

Stage 1 will feature a $28,000 prize pool:

1-8. Stage 2 spots
9-12. $4,500
13-16. $2,500

Talent

Desk/sideline/stage hosts

Freya "⁠Freya⁠" Spiers
Tres "⁠stunna⁠" Saranthus
Eefje "⁠sjokz⁠" Depoortere

Pundits/presenters

Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche
Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole
Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović
Joshua "⁠steel⁠" Nissan

Commentators

Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill
Alex "⁠Machine⁠" Richardson
Harry "⁠JustHarry⁠" Russell
Hugo "⁠Hugo⁠" Byron

Neo "⁠Ne0kai⁠" Caine
Harvey "Skriv" Rodgers
Garret "Phy" Schier
Cole "xner" McHenry

Read more

ESL reveals IEM Cologne talent

Fantasy

The IEM Cologne Stage 1 Fantasy will serve as the start of HLTV's Fall Fantasy Season and is therefore set to award season points.

Alongside points, users can fight for the following skin prizes:

1. Hydra Gloves | Mangrove (FT)
2. AK-47 | Asiimov (FT)
3. AWP | Neo-Noir (FT)