ESL Pro League

ESL Pro League
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event ESL Pro League Season 18
FormerlyESL ESEA Pro League
GameCounter-Strike: Global Offensive
Founded2015
Inaugural seasonMay 4, 2015
Owner(s)ESL
No. of teams32
RegionInternational
Most recent
champion(s)
FaZe Clan (Season 17)
Most titlesFnatic and Astralis (3 titles each)
TV partner(s)Twitch
Sponsor(s)Intel
Official websitehttps://pro.eslgaming.com/csgo/proleague/

The ESL Pro League (formerly ESL ESEA Pro League; shortened as EPL) is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) 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 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.

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. 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. 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. 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.

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 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 off their permanent partner team status, ESL World Ranking, or through qualifying from regional Pro League Conference tournaments, ESL Challenger League tournaments, and ESL Challenger Tournaments.

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

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

  • Group Stage:
    • Four single round-robin format groups
      • Each group has six teams
      • All teams play each other once
      • All matches are Best of 3s
    • Group 1st place teams advance to the Quarterfinals
    • Group 2nd & 3rd place teams advance to the Round of 12
  • Playoffs:
    • Single-Elimination bracket
    • All matches (excl. Grand Final) are Best of 3s
    • The Grand Final is Best of 5


Following a format revamp by ESL, 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:

  • Group Stage:
    • Four triple-elimination format groups
      • Each group has eight teams
      • All matches are Best of 3s
    • The top four teams from each group advance to the Playoffs:
      • Group stage winners advance to the Quarterfinals
      • Group stage runners-up advance to the Round of 12 as the High Seeds
      • Group stage 3rd place teams advance to the Round of 16 as the High Seeds
      • Group stage 4th place teams advance to the Round of 16 as the Low Seeds
  • Playoffs:
    • Single-Elimination bracket
    • All matches (excl. Grand Final) are Best of 3s
    • The Grand Final is Best of 5

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.

No. Location Winner Score Runner-up Prize Money Ref
1 Cologne Fnatic (EU 1) 3–1 Cloud9 (NA 1) US$250,000
2 Burbank Fnatic (EU 2) 3–2 Natus Vincere (EU 3) US$250,000
3 London Luminosity Gaming (NA 1) 3–2 G2 Esports (EU 4) US$512,000
4 São Paulo Cloud9 (NA 1) 2–1 SK Gaming (NA 3) US$600,000
5 Dallas G2 Esports (EU 2) 3–1 North (EU 1) US$750,000
6 Odense SK Gaming (NA 2) 3–1 FaZe Clan (EU 3) US$750,000
7 Dallas Astralis (EU 6) 3–1 Team Liquid (NA 1) US$750,000
8 Odense Astralis (EU 1) 3–1 Team Liquid (NA 3) US$750,000
9 Montpellier Team Liquid (NA 2) 3–1 G2 Esports (EU 3) US$600,000
10 Odense mousesports (EU 1) 3–0 Fnatic (EU 8) US$600,000
11 EU Online Fnatic (EU 1) 3–2 mousesports (EU 3) US$531,000
11 NA Online Team Liquid (NA 1) 3–0 Evil Geniuses (NA 2) US$219,000
12 EU Online Astralis (EU 1) 3–2 Natus Vincere (EU 2) US$450,000
12 NA Online Furia Esports (NA 1) 3–0 100 Thieves (NA 2) US$225,000
13 Online Heroic 3–2 Gambit Esports US$750,000
14 Online Natus Vincere 3–2 Team Vitality US$750,000
15 Düsseldorf FaZe Clan 3–1 ENCE US$850,000
16 Naxxar Team Vitality 3–2 Team Liquid US$835,000
17 Saint Julian's FaZe Clan 3–1 Cloud9 US$850,000
18 Saint Julian's MOUZ 3–0 Natus Vincere US$850,000

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d 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


This page was last updated at 2024-01-10 09:22 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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