One of the most iconic esports competitions will begin Wednesday with the start of IEM Katowice 2025 in Poland.
Twenty-four teams will begin the 13th playing of the event, competing for a share of the $1.25 million prize pool. The final three days will see the six remaining teams competing in front of a live audience at Spodek Arena.
The team that wins the Feb. 9 Grand Final will also earn a title in the race for the $1 million Intel Grand Slam V.
SCHEDULE AND FORMAT STAGE 1 (Jan. 29-31) Format: 16 teams competing in a double-elimination bracket, with all matches being best-of-three. Eight will advance to Stage 2. Teams: Team Liquid, Furia, Pain Gaming, MiBR, 3DMax, Eternal Fire, Gamer Legion, Complexity, Saw, Big, Flyquest, Astralis, Wildcard Gaming, Virtus.Pro, Imperial FE, Heroic.
STAGE 2 (Feb. 1-4) Format: The top eight teams from Stage 1 and eight directly qualified teams are split into two groups of eight. They will compete in a double-elimination format, with all matches being best-of-three. The top three teams from each group advance to the playoffs, with the group stage winners advancing to the semifinals and those who finish in second and third place advancing to the quarterfinals. Direct to Stage 2 Teams: G2 Esports, Team Spirit, The Mongolz, Team Vitality, FaZe Clan, mouz, Natus Vincere, Team Falcons
PLAYOFFS (Feb. 7-9) Format: Single-elimination format, with the quarterfinals and semifinals being best-of-three. The Grand Final will be best-of-five.
PRIZE POOL 1st: $460,000 (Players: $400,000, Club: $60,000) 2nd: $216,000 (Players: $180,000, Club $36,000) 3rd-4th: $118,000 (Players: $80,000, Club $28,000) 5th-6th: $61,000 (Players: $40,000, Club $21,000) 7th-8th: $23,000 (Players: $24,000, Club $14,000) 9th-10th: $10,000 (Players: $16,000, Club $7,000) 13th-16th: $10,000 (Players: $10,000, Club $0) 17th-20th: $4,500 (Players: $4,500, Club $0) 21st-24th: $2,500 (Players: $2,500, Club $0)
Katowice and IEM are the two championships in 2025 as part of the ESL FACEIT Group’s revamped schedule for the ESL Pro Tour (EPT)
It’s part of an overhauled ecosystem for the CS2 esports circuit. It will also include five Masters-level competitions, the ESL Pro League Seasons 21 and 22, IEM Dallas, IEM Chengdu and an IEM event in April.
–Field Level Media
NTMR and Timeless are among four teams tied atop the standings for the Overwatch Champions Series’ North American Stage 1 after opening Week 3 with victories on Friday. NTMR swept…
The Atlanta FaZe, fresh off winning the Call of Duty League Stage 1 Major, dropped their opening qualifying match for the Stage 2 Major on Friday. The Vancouver Surge posted…
The MongolZ and FaZe Clan were among six teams recording Round 1 sweeps Friday as action began at the $1.25 million PGL Cluj-Napoca event in Romania. Sixteen teams are competing…
Surge stop FaZe as CDL Major 2 qualifying begins
Action underway at $1.25M PGL Cluj-Napoca event
Steven Wilson wins at Daytona to open eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing season
FlyQuest takes lower bracket in Championship of The Americas