ESL Pro League

Last updated
ESL Pro League
Current season, competition or edition:
Controller current.svg ESL Pro League Season 18
ESL Pro League logo.svg
FormerlyESL ESEA Pro League
Game Counter-Strike 2
Founded2015
First seasonMay 4, 2015
Owner(s) ESL
No. of teams32
RegionInternational
Most recent
champion(s)		 FaZe Clan (Season 17)
Most titles Fnatic and Astralis (3 titles each)
TV partner(s) Twitch
Sponsor(s) Intel
Official website pro.eslgaming.com/csgo/proleague/

The ESL Pro League (formerly ESL ESEA Pro League; shortened as EPL) is a Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) professional esports league, produced by ESL. It was previously based on four regions: Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania but following a format revamp in season 13, regional leagues were discontinued and unified into one league. ESL Pro League currently comprises 32 teams each season, including 15 Permanent Partner Teams. The ESL Pro League is considered to be the premier professional CS2 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. [1]

Contents

History

In early November 2014, the German-based Electronic Sports League announced the creation of the ESL Pro League as the European ESL league. On April 28, 2015, ESL announced a joint venture with the North American-based E-Sports Entertainment Association League to provide a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league with US$500,000 in total prize money in the first season between two continents. It later expanded to fourteen teams per region and raised its prize pool to US$1,000,000, with two seasons running each year. [2] ESL the prize pool once more in 2018 by making the teams fight for $1,000,000 in the Finals, raising the season prize pool by $250,000. In addition, the number of teams in the finals rose to sixteen, with more teams from regions other than North American and Europe participating in the Finals. [3] [4] [5] In 2020, due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, seasons 11 and 12 did not have a global final, instead regional finals were held in Europe and North America. In 2021, starting from ESL Pro League Season 13, the organization announced a changed format, with one league replacing the four regional leagues that existed prior to the pandemic. All 24 teams would travel to Europe to participate in the league, with the top 12 teams of the 24-team regular season proceeding to the playoffs. With the consolidation of the tournament into one event, the prize pool was reduced to $750,000. [6] Starting from ESL Pro League season 17, the prize pool was increased to $850,000 as a result of increasing the number of teams from 24 to 32. [7]

Format

Prior to ESL Pro League Season 11, the league was split into 3 different regional leagues, Europe, Americas, and Asia-Pacific, with the top teams in each league qualifying for the season finals. However, due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, season 11 only included two leagues: Europe and North America [8] whereas season 12 was changed to have 5 regional leagues(Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, and Asia). Starting from ESL Pro League season 13, regional leagues were discontinued with teams from each region playing together in a unified league. Teams qualified to ESL Pro League based on their permanent partner team status, [9] ESL World Ranking, or through qualifying from regional Pro League Conference tournaments, ESL Challenger League tournaments, and ESL Challenger Tournaments. [10]

Starting from ESL Pro League Season 14, ESL announced a change to the playoffs format, removing the play-ins stage of the playoffs. [11]

Before ESL Pro League season 17, the format was as follows:


Following a format revamp by ESL, [12] which saw the removal of the round-robin format and an increase to 32 teams rather than 24 teams of the previous iterations. The current ESL Pro League format is as follows:

Seasons

The list of seasons and the top two teams in each season are in shown below. The number next to the teams showed what positions they placed during the regular season in their respective leagues. Regional leagues were discontinued in Season 13. According to report Strife will represents Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) in ESL Pro League Season 16. [13]

No.LocationWinnerScoreRunner-upPrize MoneyRef
1 Cologne Fnatic (EU 1)3–1 Cloud9 (NA 1)US$250,000 [14]
2 Burbank Fnatic (EU 2)3–2 Natus Vincere (EU 3)US$250,000 [15]
3 London Luminosity Gaming (NA 1)3–2 G2 Esports (EU 4)US$512,000 [16]
4 São Paulo Cloud9 (NA 1)2–1 SK Gaming (NA 3)US$600,000 [17]
5 Dallas G2 Esports (EU 2)3–1 North (EU 1)US$750,000 [18]
6 Odense SK Gaming (NA 2)3–1 FaZe Clan (EU 3)US$750,000 [19]
7 Dallas Astralis (EU 6)3–1 Team Liquid (NA 1)US$750,000 [20]
8 Odense Astralis (EU 1)3–1 Team Liquid (NA 3)US$750,000 [21]
9 Montpellier Team Liquid (NA 2)3–1 G2 Esports (EU 3)US$600,000 [22]
10 Odense mousesports (EU 1)3–0 Fnatic (EU 8)US$600,000 [23]
11 EUOnline Fnatic (EU 1)3–2 mousesports (EU 3)US$531,000 [Note 1] [24] [25]
11 NAOnline Team Liquid (NA 1)3–0 Evil Geniuses (NA 2)US$219,000 [Note 1] [26] [25]
12 EUOnline Astralis (EU 1)3–2 Natus Vincere (EU 2)US$450,000 [Note 1] [27]
12 NAOnline Furia Esports (NA 1)3–0 100 Thieves (NA 2)US$225,000 [Note 1] [28]
13OnlineHeroic3–2 Gambit Esports US$750,000 [29]
14 Online Natus Vincere 3–2 Team Vitality US$750,000 [30]
15 Düsseldorf FaZe Clan 3–1 ENCE US$850,000 [31]
16 Naxxar Team Vitality 3–2 Team Liquid US$835,000 [32]
17 Saint Julian's FaZe Clan 3–1 Cloud9 US$850,000 [33]
18 Saint Julian's MOUZ 3–0 Natus Vincere US$850,000 [34]
19 Saint Julian's MOUZ 3–0 Team Vitality US$750,000 [35]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Seasons 11 and 12 were originally intended to be an offline event, with the finals taking place at Denver, Colorado, United States. However, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, ESL announced that both the regular season and the finals will be split into regions: Europe and North America for Season 11 and Europe, North America, South America, Ocenia, and Asia for Season 12, and that the regular season and the finals will be played entirely online. This was decided based on health and safety reasons and to minimize movement across regions.

Other Leagues

ESL also has two other leagues outside of Counter-Strike. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is currently in its eleventh season. The PENTA Sports/G2 Esports core has the most titles with four, as the team won the Year 1 Season 1, Year 2 Season 1, Year 2 Season 2, and Season 8 titles. In addition to the Rainbow Six Siege league, ESL also has a Halo league. However, the two leagues are much less prominent than the Counter-Strike league as Rainbow Six only has a $248,000 prize pool compared to CS:GO's $750,000 prize pool.

See also

Related Research Articles

Mouz, formerly mousesports, is a professional esports organisation based in Germany. It fields teams in several games but is particularly known for its CS:GO team. MOUZ was one of the founding members of the G7 Teams. MOUZ's League of Legends team currently competes in the ESL Pro Series, having formerly competed in the European Challenger Series.

The ESL Gaming GmbH, doing business as ESL, is a German esports organizer and production company that produces video game competitions worldwide. ESL was the world's largest esports company in 2015, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Counter Logic Gaming</span> American esports organization

Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) was an American esports organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in April 2010 by George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis and Alexander "Vodoo" Beutel as a League of Legends team, and branched out into other games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015</span>

DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 was the seventh Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship that was held from October 28 – November 1, 2015 at the Sala Polivalentă in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It was organized by DreamHack with help from Valve and the Professional Gamers League. The tournament had a total prize pool of US$250,000.

olofmeister Swedish Counter-Strike player

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ESL One Cologne 2016</span> Esports tournament

ESL One Cologne 2016, also known as ESL Cologne Major 2016 or Cologne 2016, was an Electronic Sports League Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. It was the ninth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship and was held at the Lanxess Arena In Cologne, Germany from July 8–10. It featured 16 teams from throughout the world competing. Cologne 2016 had the second consecutive major with a prize pool of $1,000,000.

<i>ELeague</i> Esports league and American television show

ELeague, shortened as EL, and stylized as ΞLEAGUE is an esports league and American television show that airs on TBS. It was announced in September 2015 as a partnership between Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME/IMG. The name "ELeague" was officially unveiled later that year.

ESL Pro League Season 4 was a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It was the fourth season of the ESL Pro League, and had an overall prize pool of $750,000. For the first time, the Finals took place in South America – São Paulo, Brazil, from October 28 to October 30. Teams from two continents, North America and Europe competed in fourteen team leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals. Europe's season began with FaZe Clan defeating Team X and ended with Team Dignitas defeating Virtus.pro in a best of three 6th place decider. North America's season started with Cloud9 defeating Team Liquid and ended with Immortals defeating Echo Fox. In the finals, Cloud9 defeated SK Gaming 2–1 to become the ESL Pro League Season 4 Champions and take home $200,000 prize money; this upset would also mark the first time a North American won an international premier event since iBUYPOWER won ESEA Season 16 - Global Invite Division in 2014.

FACEIT is an esports platform founded in London in 2012. The company has administered leagues for games such as Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Rocket League, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018</span>

The ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, also known as ELEAGUE Major 2018 or Boston 2018, was the twelfth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship and the second organized by ELEAGUE. The group stage was held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from January 12 to January 22, 2018, and the playoff stage took place at the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts, United States from January 26 to January 28, 2018. It featured 24 professional teams from around the world, as ELEAGUE and Valve agreed to expand the Major from the usual 16. All 16 teams from the previous major, PGL Major: Kraków 2017, directly qualified for the Major, while another eight teams qualified through their respective regional qualifiers. Boston 2018 was the fifth consecutive Major with a prize pool of $1,000,000. This was also the first CS:GO Major to take place in two cities.

ESL Pro League Season 2 was an Electronic Sports League (ESL) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. It was the second season of the ESL Pro League. The Finals took place in Burbank, California, United States from December 10 to December 13, 2015. The regular season for Europe began on September 9, 2015, with Ninjas in Pyjamas beating Team EnVyUs and ended with Team EnVyUs defeating mousesports. North America's season began on the same date and kicked off with compLexity Gaming defeating Enemy and concluded with Team Liquid defeating Enemy. The season ended with Fnatic defeating Natus Vincere in a close best of five finals, 3–2. Teams from two continents, North America and Europe, competed in twelve team leagues and play against each other twice to determine the top four teams from each continent would play in the Finals.

ESL Pro League Season 1, officially known as ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 and shortened as EPL Season 1, was an Electronic Sports League (ESL) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. It was the first season of the ESL Pro League. The Finals took place in Cologne, Germany from July 2, 2015, to July 5, 2015. Teams from two continents, North America and Europe, competed in twelve team leagues and play against each other twice to determine the top four teams from each continent would play in the Finals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ELEAGUE Major 2017</span>

ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017, also known as ELEAGUE Major 2017 or Atlanta 2017, was the tenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship. It was organized by ELEAGUE and held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from January 22 to 29, 2017. It featured sixteen professional teams from around the world. Eight teams directly qualified based on their top eight placement in the last major, ESL One Cologne 2016, while another eight teams qualified through the ELEAGUE Offline Major Qualifier. ELEAGUE Major was the third consecutive Major with a prize pool of $1,000,000.

The Intel Extreme Masters Season 12 – World Championship or IEM Katowice 2018 was the world championship for the twelfth season of the Intel Extreme Masters. It was held at the Spodek in Katowice, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland from February 27–March 4, 2018. The event featured tournaments for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and StarCraft II.

<i>Counter-Strike</i> Major Championships Valve-sponsored tournaments in Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike Major Championships, commonly known as the Majors, are Counter-Strike (CS) esports tournaments sponsored by Valve, the game's developer. The first Valve-recognized 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. This, along with the following 18 Majors, was played in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. As of the 2023 release of Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), Counter-Strike esports, including the Majors, are played in CS2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IEM Katowice Major 2019</span> International tournament in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

The Intel Extreme Masters Season XIII – Katowice Major 2019, also known as IEM Katowice Major 2019 or Katowice 2019, was the fourteenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship and the world championship for the thirteenth season of the Intel Extreme Masters. It was held in Katowice, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland from February 13 – March 3, 2019. Fourteen teams would qualify for the IEM Katowice Major 2019 based on their top fourteen placements from the last Major, the FACEIT Major: London 2018, while another ten teams would qualify from their respective regional qualifiers. The top eight teams from the London Major ("Legends") received a bye to the second phase of the group stage while the other sixteen teams ("Challengers") had to go through the first and second group stages in order to reach the playoffs. It featured a US$1,000,000 prize pool, the seventh consecutive Major with that prize pool. It was hosted by ESL, their first Major since 2016. This event was the start of the second season of the Intel Grand Slam.

ESL Pro League Season 8 is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It is the eighth season of the ESL Pro League. Teams from five continents, North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America, will compete in six leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals. The EPL finals returned to Odense, Denmark. The regular season started on September 26, 2018, and will end on November 14, 2018. China's season started with ViCi Gaming upsetting TyLoo in a best of three series. Southeast Asia's season started with B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape taking down Recca Esports, which included a 16–0 map. Europe's season started with Space Soldiers defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas and ended with HellRaisers defeating G2 Esports. North America's season kicked off with Renegades dominating eUnited and ended with eUnited defeating Luminosity Gaming.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twistzz</span> Canadian esports player

Russel David Kevin Van Dulken, better known as Twistzz, is a Canadian professional Counter-Strike 2 player for Team Liquid. He has previously played for top teams such as Team SoloMid, Misfits, and FaZe Clan. Twistzz was named the MVP of ESL One New York 2018 and IEM Sydney 2019 by HLTV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ESL Pro League Season 14</span> Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament

The ESL Pro League Season 14, abbreviated as EPL Season 14 and EPL XIV, was the fourteenth season of the ESL organized Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league, the ESL Pro League. Held between August 16 and September 12, 2021, as an online tournament, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of the ESL Pro Tour, the season's twenty-four teams competed for a US$750,000 prize pool and for 7,400 ESL Pro Tour Points (EPT), used by ESL to determine the participants of its two main events each year, in Katowice and Cologne.

References

  1. ↑ "ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  2. ↑ "World's largest Counter-Strike league to be hosted by ESL and ESEA". ESL Gaming. April 2, 2015. Archived from the original on May 2, 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  3. ↑ Mira, Luis (February 20, 2018). "ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals expanded to 16 teams". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  4. ↑ Steiner, Dustin (February 20, 2018). "ESL Pro League Returns to Dallas for $1 Million Finals". Unikrn. Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  5. ↑ Schulze, Ulrich (February 20, 2018). "Ulrich Schulze on Twitter: The expansion to 16 teams for #ESLProLeague finals comes with geographical expansion. More details on that soon". Twitter . Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  6. ↑ "ESL Pro League – Season 14". pro.eslgaming.com. Retrieved 2021-05-29.
  7. ↑ "ESL Pro League - Season 17". pro.eslgaming.com. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  8. ↑ "Season 11 Online Format Update - ESL Pro League CS:GO". pro.eslgaming.com. 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  9. ↑ "Leading CS:GO teams and ESL sign historic agreement - ESL Pro League CS:GO". pro.eslgaming.com. 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  10. ↑ Teams could begin qualifying for ESL Pro League from Challenger tournaments starting from season 17, whereas Conference tournaments began from season 15. ESL Challenger tournaments are not the same as ESL Challenge League tournaments.
  11. ↑ "Format Change to ESL Pro League Season 14 Playoffs - ESL Pro League CS:GO". pro.eslgaming.com. 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  12. ↑ "ESL Pro League: 2023 Update - ESL Pro League CS:GO". pro.eslgaming.com. 2022-12-21. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  13. ↑ "stamina about NA CS: "The future is bright"" . Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  14. ↑ "ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 Finals overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  15. ↑ "ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 Finals overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  16. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  17. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  18. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  19. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  20. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  21. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  22. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  23. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  24. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 11 Europe overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  25. 1 2 "Season 11 to be played online, finals moved from Denver to studio location". ESL Pro League. 2020-03-11. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  26. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 11 North America overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  27. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  28. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 12 North America". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  29. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 13". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2021-05-29.
  30. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 14". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  31. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 15". HLTV.org. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  32. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 16".
  33. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 17".
  34. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 18".
  35. ↑ "ESL Pro League Season 19".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.