ESL One Cologne transitions to a regional online tournament

ESL One Cologne will be held as an entirely online tournament, according to a blog post released by the tournament organizer. Additionally, Cologne will be turned into a regional tournament, with Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania all competing in separate tournaments.  According to the announcement, teams from the CIS region will compete in what is now ESL One Cologne’s main European division.

While ESL One Cologne was originally set to be held in Cologne, Germany, the ongoing global situation forced ESL to declare that the tournament would be played without a live audience. Since that decision, ESL had held firm on Cologne’s LAN status until its July 16 announcement that the tournament would move entirely online. 

The move makes ESL One Cologne the fourth major CSGO tournament to be rescheduled or to transition from a LAN setting to online, alongside CSGO’s 2020 Major, ESL One Rio, the entirety of ESL Pro League Season 11, DreamHack Masters Spring, and CS Summit 6. Originally billed as a $1,000,000 tournament, ESL One Cologne’s prize pool has been halved to $500,000 and distributed between each of the four major regions. ESL says that the remaining $500,000 will be “redistributed equally” between IEM Katowice 2021 and ESL Cologne 2021.

Here are the participating teams in each individual division of the revamped ESL One Cologne, complete with prize pools, total teams, and group stage and playoff formats.

Curious about what it’s like to play in front of an empty stadium? Check out WIN.gg’s inside IEM Katowice 2020 video below.

ESL One Cologne Online Teams, Format and Prize Pools

European Division

Prize Pool: $325,000

Teams: 16

Format: Double elimination, best-of-three series

Playoff Format: Single elimination, best-of-three series, BO5 grand final

• Astralis
• fnatic
• Natus Vincere 
• G2 Esports
• mousesports
• FaZe Clan
• Team Vitality
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• BIG Clan
• Sprout
• Team Heretics
• Complexity
• OG 
• Heroic
• MAD Lions
• TBD (to be announced on July 20)

North American Division

Prize Pool: $135,000

Teams: 8

Format: Double elimination, best-of-three series

Playoff Format: Single elimination, best-of-three series, BO5 grand final

• Team Liquid
• 100 Thieves
• Evil Geniuses
• FURIA Esports
• Cloud9
• Gen.G Esports
• TBD (to be announced July 20)
• TBD (to be announced July 20)

Asian Division

Prize Pool: $20,000

Teams: 4

Format: Double elimination, best-of-three series, BO5 grand final with the upper-bracket winner holding a one-map advantage

• TYLOO
• TBD (to be announced July 20)
• TBD (to be announced July 20)
• TBD (to be announced July 20)

Oceania Division

Prize Pool: $20,000

Teams: 4

Format: Double elimination, best-of-three series, BO5 grand final with the upper-bracket winner holding a one-map advantage

• Renegades
• TBD (to be announced July 20)
• TBD (to be announced July 20)
• TBD (to be announced July 20)

ESL One Cologne officially starts its new online format when the tournament kicks off on August 18. The modified event will run through August 30.