Lanxess Arena is an indoor arena, in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is known as the 18,500-capacity home of the Kölner Haie. The arena opened in 1998 and can accommodate 20,000 people for concerts. With its capacity of 18,500, it is the largest ice hockey arena outside North America.
Joe Miller or JOEE is a British commentator. He started his career as an esports caster at gaming tournaments, working his first event shoutcasting Battlefield 1942. The 3D World War II first-person shooter (FPS) video game was coincidentally also the first game Miller played at a competitive level. At age sixteen, he began to commentate BF1942 games at home in the UK, pushing out as many audio commentaries as he could. In an interview with JP McDaniel, Miller revealed that it was a "big jump" from the audio commentaries he initially produced to the audio-video commentaries we are accustomed to today.
The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is a series of international esports tournaments held in countries around the world. These Electronic Sports League (ESL) sanctioned events, sponsored by Intel, as of 2020 currently host events in Counter-Strike and Starcraft II. Other game titles were hosted in the past. The body that owns the league is Turtle Entertainment. The League has operated 14 seasons as of 2020. The season finals, with the largest prize pool, takes place in Katowice, Poland. Mid-season events are held in numerous cities around the globe, including Chicago, Shanghai and Sydney.
ESL, formerly known as Electronic Sports League, is an esports organizer and production company that produces video game competitions worldwide. ESL is the world's largest esports company, and the oldest that is still operational. Based in Cologne, Germany, ESL has eleven offices and multiple international TV studios globally. ESL is the largest esports company to broadcast on Twitch.
ESL One Cologne 2015 was the sixth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship that was held from August 14–18, 2015 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. It was organized by Electronic Sports League. The Cologne event was the first ESL tournament that required competitors to take drug tests, which all came up negative. The tournament had a total prize pool of US$250,000. The online livestream was viewed by around 27 million viewers with a peak of 1.3 million concurrent viewers.
Electronic Sports League One Cologne 2014, known as ESL One Cologne 2014 for short, was the third Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship that was held during Gamescom 2014 from August 14–17, 2014 at the Cologne Exhibition Centre in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was the second CS:GO Major of 2014. It was organized by Electronic Sports League with sponsorship from Valve. The tournament had a total prize pool of US$250,000.
Anders Blume is a Danish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive commentator and co-founder of RoomOnFire. He has been present as a caster at all of the Valve sponsored CS:GO Majors, with the exception of EMS One Katowice 2014. He has worked for a wide variety of tournament organisers including Electronic Sports League (ESL), Dreamhack and Gfinity. He is more often than not paired with Auguste 'Semmler' Massonnat, also a co-founder of RoomOnFire and Jason "Moses" O'Toole, for his casts. He is famous for his energetic casts, including the use of what has become his catchphrase, "Are you kidding me?". In 2015, he won the Golden Joystick award for esports icon of the year.
Olof Kajbjer Gustafsson, better known as olofmeister, is a Swedish professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player for FaZe Clan. He has previously played for H2k, Absolute Legends, LGB eSports, Fnatic, and FaZe Clan. Gustafsson is widely regarded as one of the best CS:GO players in history. He has won two CSGO Majors, ESL One Katowice 2015 and ESL One Cologne 2015, as well as many other tournaments.
Kenny Schrub, better known by his alias kennyS, is a French professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player who is currently signed to G2 Esports. He was named "eSports Player of the Year" at The Game Awards 2015. He was considered the best sniper in the game prior to a change to the weapon's mobility, and Duncan Shields, a Counter-Strike analyst, has called him the best player in the game prior to that change. Some of his previous teams include Titan, VeryGames, Team LDLC.com, Recursive eSports, Clan-Mystik, and Team EnVyUs. He was a professional Counter-Strike: Source player before transitioning to Global Offensive in 2012.
Finn Andersen, better known as karrigan, is a Danish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player and captain for FaZe Clan. He has also played for other teams including Fnatic, Team Dignitas, Team SoloMid, Astralis, Mousesports and Team Envy. Andersen was a founding member of Astralis, a player-owned team established in 2015. He began playing competitively in 2006 during the Counter-Strike 1.6 era.
Gabriel Toledo de Alcântara Sguario, professionally known by his in-game alias FalleN, is a Brazilian professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player and former Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike 1.6 player. He played the role of an AWPer for MIBR. In 2015 he was chosen the most influential person in Brazilian eSports. He was also nominated PC personality of the year by the eSports Industry Awards in 2016. He is the owner of Brazilian eSports organization Games Academy. During 2016 and 2017, Fallen was described as one of the top AWPers, in-game leaders, and overall players in the world. He is also known as one of the few CS:GO players who use the AWP, and in-game lead, at the same time.
ESL One New York 2016 was a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. Eight teams from around the globe competed in an offline (LAN) tournament that will feature a group stage and a playoffs. It featured a US$250,000 prize pool.
Jordan Gilbert, better known as n0thing, is an American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. He previously played as a rifler/lurker for Cloud9, before going inactive. n0thing is one of the most experienced North American players. Before playing Global Offensive, n0thing was a professional Counter Strike 1.6 player. Jordan won his first LAN tournament at just 10 years old. Since then, he has grown into a major figure in the CS:GO scene. His large following has garnered him popularity outside of the CS:GO scene, even appearing on Joe Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.
ESL One Cologne 2017 was a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. In July 2017, sixteen teams from around the globe competed in an offline (LAN) tournament that featured a group stage and playoffs with a US$250,000 prize pool. It was the last premier event before the PGL 2017 Krakow Major Championship. In addition, this Cologne event was the first ever Cologne tournament to not host a major as Valve decided to pass over the historic tournament series in favor of the PGL Major.
The ESL Pro League is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) professional esports league. It is based on four regions: Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, and currently comprises 24 teams each season, including 12 Permanent Partner Teams. The ESL Pro League is considered to be the premier professional CS:GO league in the world and is one of the major professional leagues in esports. The ESL Pro League began as a venture between the Electronic Sports League (ESL) and E-Sports Entertainment Association League (ESEA). Its inaugural season started on May 4, 2015.
ESL One Cologne 2018 was a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. In July 2018, sixteen teams from around the globe competed in an offline (LAN) tournament that featured a group stage and playoffs with a US$300,000 prize pool. It would be the second consecutive year since Cologne 2016 in which Valve decided to pass up on the historic tournament series as a Major host in favor of the FACEIT Major: London 2018.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships, commonly known as the Majors, are Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) esports tournaments sponsored by Valve, the game's developer. The first CS:GO Major took place in 2013 in Jönköping, Sweden and was hosted by DreamHack with a total prize pool of US$250,000 split among 16 teams.
ESL One Cologne 2019 is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. In July 2019, sixteen teams from around the globe competed in an offline (LAN) tournament that featured a group stage and playoffs with a US$300,000 prize pool. This event and Intel Extreme Masters Season XIV - Chicago were the last events before teams playing at StarLadder Major: Berlin 2019 took a month break before heading to the Major.
Marcelo Augusto David, better known as coldzera, is a Brazilian professional Counter Strike: Global Offensive player for FaZe Clan. He was named the best CS:GO player in both 2016 and 2017 by the CS:GO ranking website HLTV.org.
Space Soldiers was a professional esports organization founded in 2014 by Bünyamin Aydın. Originally, the team was active in only a single game: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Later on, the organization added a FIFA 17 player.
