The opening matches for the upcoming ESL One Cologne tournament is scheduled to start on the 18th of August. Details about the ESL One Cologne, and the matches starting on the 18th of August, can be found here.
ESL One Cologne has been transitioned to an online format where the teams in each group will have to go through a double elimination process in order to qualify for the playoffs. For the record, 16 teams will feature in this tournament from Europe where 8 teams per group will lock horns for a top four finish. The groups from North America, Asia and Oceania will see teams engage in the heat for a top two finish from each.
ESL One Cologne has USD 500k up for grabs split across different regions where EU has bagged the highest share of USD 325k followed by the NA region with USD 135k. The remainder of the prize pool has been equally shared among the Asian and the Oceanic regions with USD 20k each.
As this tournament will be held across different regions with different time zones, the EU and the NA regions will have their matches kicked off on the 18th of August followed by Asia and Oceania kicking off with their matchups a week later on 25th.
The groups which have been revealed by ESL are:
Region : Europe (Prize Pool : USD 325,000):
Group A
- BIG
- Complexity
- Natus Vincere
- NiP
- OG
- mousesports
- MAD Lions
- Sprout
Group B
- MIBR
- Heretics
- Vitality
- G2
- FaZe
- Fnatic
- Astralis
- Heroic
Region: North America (Prize Pool: USD 135,000):
Group A
- FURIA
- Gen.G
- 100 Thieves
- Chaos
Group B
- Evil Geniuses
- Liquid
- Cloud9
- Triumph
Region: Asia and Oceania (Prize Pool: USD 20,000 each):
Asia
- TYLOO
- ViCi
- Invictus
- Beyond
Oceania
- Renegades
- ORDER
- AVANT
- Chiefs
