ESL Pro League Season 22 2025: Participants, Format, Schedule & Favorites

Chloe Price

September 3, 2025

Esports Tournaments

ESL Pro League Season 22 kicks off at the end of September, giving us just over two weeks of Counter-Strike action! This season heads to Stockholm, where 24 of the best Counter-Strike teams will battle it out for the lion’s share of the $400,000 prize pool.

Image source: ESL

ESL Pro League Season 22 Details

ESL Pro League returns for Season 22, running from September 27 to October 12, with a whopping 24 teams and three different stages.

The event kicks off with 16 teams fighting it out in Stage 1, eight of which will advance to Stage 2, joining the eight teams that were seeded directly there.

The first two stages of ESL Pro League Season 22 will play out in a Swiss system over five rounds, followed by a single-elimination playoff bracket.

All matches will be played in a Bo3 format, up until the final, which will be a Bo5 that is sure to bring some very exciting maps.

The favorites for ESL Pro League Season 22

With 24 teams attending, the ESL Pro League Season 22 schedule will be tightly packed. Pro League is no stranger to upsets, but with the level that we’ve seen out of teams like The MongolZ, Team Spirit, Mouz, and Team Vitality this year, it’s hard to see anyone other than those four take the title.

Team Spirit

Despite stumbling at the Esports World Cup, Team Spirit still comes into ESL Pro League Season 22 as key favorites. They kicked off the second half of 2025 with style, taking home the IEM Cologne and BLAST Bounty trophies.

Of course, we can’t talk about Spirit without mentioning Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, who continues to dominate the world of Counter-Strike. Any match is winnable when “donk” is on form, and he usually is.

The team will likely see a change, with Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich reportedly coming into the squad to replace Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia, but even so, Spirit will be one of the teams to beat.

Team Spirit will be looking to pick up another trophy at ESL Pro League. Image source: Bounty

Team Vitality

In contrast to Team Spirit, Vitality had a record-breaking start to 2025, but has slowed down coming into the second half of the year. With three disappointing third-to-fourth-place finishes in a row, Vitality will be keen to pick up the trophy at ESL Pro League Season 22.

They’re still the team that won seven events in a row. They still have Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Robin “ropz” Kool, and one of the best supporting casts in the scene. Vitality cannot be underestimated and could return to winning ways at any time.

The MongolZ

The MongolZ made history by becoming the first Asian team ever to win a premier Counter-Strike LAN event at the Esports World Cup. They’re a team that has been constantly improving throughout the year and finally capped it off with a first-place finish.

There’s no doubt that MongolZ could continue their success at ESL Pro League Season 22, although, despite being a favorite, they don’t have the history of success like teams like Spirit and Vitality. Regardless, they’re definitely a squad to keep your eyes on at the event.

How to watch ESL Pro League Season 22

As usual, ESL Pro League Season 22 will be streamed live on both Twitch and YouTube, where you can easily catch all the action!

The first two stages of the event will have multiple matches running simultaneously, so you can also check out the B stream on Twitch, or look at the Live section of the ESLCS YouTube channel linked above.

History of ESL Pro League

ESL Pro League is one of the oldest modern Counter-Strike tournaments, dating back to 2015. It has gone through many iterations, from having just two online regional events that led into LAN finals to an invite-based event with 12 slots up for grabs for teams all around the world.

One thing that has remained true throughout, however, is that ESL Pro League gives anyone a chance to qualify and always sees the world’s best face off.

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