

ESL Pro League Season 20 is almost here, marking a huge milestone for one of ESL’s premier CS2 events. It promises over two weeks of intense Counter-Strike action, with 32 of the best CS2 teams in the world descending upon Malta between September 3rd – 22nd to fight for a prize pool of $750,000.
You can watch all of ESL Pro League Season 20 from the official ESL Twitch channel, found below:
Like ESL Pro League Season 19, Season 20 follows a reduced timeframe, allowing Groups A and B to run concurrently in week one, with the same for Groups C and D in week two. This brings you some intense Counter-Strike 2 action over a shorter period of time.
ESL Pro League Season 20’s format is exactly as you’ve come to expect from previous iterations of the tournament:
Ahead of ESL Pro League Season 20, ESL has confirmed all of the teams competing in the event ahead. These are:
Credit: ESL
All 32 teams have been separated into four groups, which will run two at a time. These are:
Group A:
Group B:
Group C:
Group D:
Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL
Coming into ESL Pro League Season 20, MOUZ are back-to-back defending champions. Since then, it’s fair to say that MOUZ has only improved, while the teams around them have been a mixed bag of consistency. We’re in a scene right now where five or six teams can win any tournament thanks to this inconsistency, so it’s hard to look past MOUZ retaining their title right now. If we’re picking one winner, we’re going with them.
As mentioned, it depends what version of teams like Vitality, FaZe, Spirit, G2, and NAVI show up in Malta. Those five are all more than capable of winning tournaments right now, so expect to see a competitive event no matter what happens.
Every year, the bi-annual ESL Pro Leagues are two of the biggest events in the Counter-Strike calendar. Next up is ESL Pro League Season 19, where a few changes have been made to the format to make the tournament a little shorter this time around. The tournament will be running from April 23rd – May 12th 2024, with a total prize pool of $750,000 as well as a guaranteed spot at IEM Cologne 2024 up for grabs.
With ESL Pro League Season 18 winners MOUZ returning, can anyone snatch away the crown from the young guns?
You can catch all the action from ESL Pro League Season 19 live on the ESL Twitch channel:
The big change to the format of ESL Pro League Season 19 comes in the reduced timeframe. Previously, Pro League tournaments were played over the course of five weeks. Now, this will be reduced to three weeks as of Season 19. To do this, Groups will be played two at a time, instead of one, increasing the intensity of the action over a shorter period of time.
In terms of the format of the Groups and Playoffs, it’s extremely similar to what you can expect from previous Seasons:
Credit: ESL
All of the teams playing at ESL Pro League Season 19 have been revealed. With the ESL World Rankings slots now locked in and confirmed, we can now confirm the following teams at the tournament ahead:
Credit: ESL
The teams have been separated into four Groups, divided as follows:
Group A:
Group B:
Group C:
Group D:
Last season’s winners will want to repeat the feat. Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL
With just about every top team making an appearance at ESL Pro League Season 19, it’s hard to single out a few. Mention has to go to previous winners MOUZ, who will have a point to prove in retaining the title. As the top team throughout 2023, it’s hard to look past Vitality, either. They remain one of the best CS teams in the world, and are always in with a shot of victory.
Meanwhile, the likes of Falcons and Liquid are two teams with everything to prove. They stand as two of the most exciting superteams in CS, and they’ll be looking to put on a show across their first few tournaments together, ESL Pro League included.
If we’re picking one winner for the entire tournament, we’re still going with Vitality above the rest.
EPL Season 17 kicks off on February 22nd with an all new format. Teams will battle for a prize purse of $850,000 USD.
Pro League is a bi-yearly event with one season reserved for Spring and one for Fall of each competitive year. It features the best teams from Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania battling for the coveted ESL Pro League Trophy.
You can watch all of the matches played at ESL Pro League Season 17 live on the official ESL CSGO Twitch Channel.
Starting in 2022, ESL has made changes to the competitive format of the league. We have 32 teams in the League, 11 of which arrive from ESL Conference, a qualifying event from the Regional League invites. Last year, ESL Gaming also expanded their partner team list to 15 up from 12. The change means that less teams get invites to the event through World Rankings placements.
The teams in attendance in Season 17 are: Astralis, BIG, Complexity, ENCE, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, FURIA, G2 Esports, Heroic, MOUZ, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Liquid, Vitality, Outsiders (Virtus.pro), paiN Gaming, Cloud9, Team Spirit, OG, Eternal Fire, SAW, ForZe, ATM, MIBR, Imperial, 00 Nation, Rare Atom, IHC Esports, Grayhound Gaming and Ro0ster.
The teams are divided into four groups of six teams. They will play a single round-robin Group Stage before the top three teams in each group advance forward. We discuss each Group and its participants below.
Group A hold the reigning IEM Katowice champions G2 Esports, who started 2023 on a domination spree. They should advance as the #1 team with ease in this group. Based on how the bracket is set up, Outsiders have a solid chance to make it out considering their recent form. From the remaining teams Fnatic and Cloud9 look like teams that would get a bit deeper in the Losers Bracket, and the remaining teams should go out from the get go.
Group B is all about Heroic and MOUZ. Both teams have a fairly straightforward run to the RO8. Key matches here are the BR derby between Imperial and FURIA and a mid-pack duel between BIG and Complexity. We have a fairly standard group here, with some interesting matches from the get go.
One of the most interesting groups at this event is Group C. FaZe, NiP, OG and Vitality all have a fairly decent chance to make it out and performance on the day will decide the ultimate winner. Vitality has the overall edge, but there can be upset from any of the other three teams as well. PaiN, Rooster, 00Nation and Grayhound only serve as warmup here, as neither of the four really has a chance to contest in the opening duels.
Finally Group D is set to host a duel between NaVi and Team Liquid for the RO8 spot. Both teams will likely duel Astralis and ENCE on the way there, but we are fairly confident its a Liquid/NAVI duel at the end of it all. It will be interesting to see if Spirit has the upset factor once again as well.
Once it’s all said and done: G2 Esports, Heroic, FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere are our expected picks to get the guaranteed RO8 spot.
The teams in attendance in Season 15 are: Astralis, BIG, Complexity, ENCE, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, FURIA, G2 Esports, MOUZ, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Liquid, Vitality, Gambit, Heroic, Virtus.pro, Entropiq, AGO, Party Astronauts, LookingForOrg, Movistar Riders, GODSENT & Sprout.
*Initially Extra Salt qualified for this event, but after the roster was fully acquired by Complexity, their slot was given to Sprout.
The teams are divided into four groups of six teams. They will play a single round-robin Group Stage before the top three teams in each group advance forward. We discuss each Group and its participants below.
The kick-off group features G2 Esports as the main favorite, and Ninjas in Pyjamas as a close second. The rest of the group is up in the air in terms of placements, especially Fnatic and MOUZ who are likely to struggle against qualifier teams Entropiq and LFT. When IEM Katowice performance into consideration, Fnatic should be a clear third in this group. Yet, they recently announced the benching of Owen “smooya” Butterfield, meaning they will likely play EPL with a stand-in. How the new player will impact their performance is debatable.
Fashioned the Group of Death, Group B has four heavy hitters jam packed into a single group. Every team except ENCE is formidable here. Yes, we are not sleeping on Sprout even. Between Virtus.Pro, FURIA, FaZe Clan and Vitality it is hard to choose a clear favorite, especially since each team can cleanly win maps off either opponent.
In terms of CSGO betting, this is the hardest group to gauge on predict. Our analysis will have to work overtime when Group B kicks off.
Unlike the previous group, Group C is done and dusted for Gambit Esports. They will find little in the way of opposition in their EPL group. On the other hand, deciding who is 2nd and 3rd in this group becomes a tad more problematic. Both BIG and Liquid have the rankings on their side, yet both teams have been struggling to gain momentum this season. Do not be surprised if Movistar Riders and Godsent suddenly have a great showing here.
Season favorite Natus Vincere will try to make a clean sweep in the final EPL group. Two Danish rosters in Heroic and Astralis and two NA rosters in Complexity and Evil Geniuses will have to decide amongst each other which two teams will join NaVi out of Group D. The top and bottom of the group are already “pre-decided” it now comes down to an EU vs NA battle for the rest.
Season 14 featured $750,000 USD in prize money and points for both ESL Pro Tour and BLAST Premier circuit. The World’s best 24 teams were in attendance, with some of the most titled organizations ever present.
The online event features 24 teams, 12 of whom are permanent partner teams, while rest receive invites based on the ESL Global Rankings or through the ESEA Leagues.
The teams are divided into four groups of 6 and play out a single round-robin format schedule before the top three teams advance further and bottom three are eliminated. Top performers in each group are either placed in the quarter or semifinals, while the remaining two teams from each group play out a Round of 12 single elimination bracket.
The entire event lasts four weeks in total, with three weeks reserved for the group stage and one week for Playoffs.
The 12 permanent partner teams are: Astralis, Compelxity, ENCE, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, G2 Esports, mousesports, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid and Vitality.
ESL Pro League Season 14 also features: BIG, Heroic, FURIA, Virtus.pro, OG, Gambit Esports, Team Spirit, Entropiq, Sinners, Bad News Bears, Team One and Forze. The final spot was initially reserved for Renegades, but due to travel restrictions the team was replaced with Forze.
The groups are divided as follows:
Each group plays a 5-day match schedule between August 16 – September 5. Three matches are played each day with starting times at 12:00, 15:30 and 19:00 CET. Playoffs commence after the entire Group Stage is completed and last for 5 days in total.
In total, 70 best-of-three and 1 best-of-five series will be played during ESL Pro League.
Coming into Season 14, the CS:GO scene has been shaken up by huge upsets by CIS teams at IEM Katowice 2021, BLAST Global Finals, Flashpoint Season 2, and IEM Cologne. Interestingly, all CIS teams at ESL Pro League are split between the four groups, meaning, we might have all CIS teams advance into Playoffs. Let’s analyze the likely performers in each group.
Group A is termed the group of life as it features most of the middle of the pack teams. Heroic, Astralis and Spirit are the the teams likely advancing forward. Vitality and ENCE are far from their desired form, but can pull out upsets. Bad News Bears are not a real challenger here, and will need a miracle to move onward.
Group B in contrast is the group of death, as most teams have a solid chance of moving forward. Virtus.Pro, OG and Complexity are all in contention for a spot forward. The rest is all up in the air, and results will depend solely on how well teams perform on each match day. G2 Esports is the closest team to a favorite from the rest of the pack, but the margin is too small for comfort.
Natus Vincere needs to show they can maintain their #1 Global Ranking spot by besting heavy hitters like FaZe Clan, Mousesports and Evil Geniuses. The rest of the teams are no pushovers either, BIG and Fnatic both made recent roster changes and we cant place them accurately in terms of strength. Overall, only NaVi is safe to predict as moving forward, with the other two spots up for debate.
Group D is all about Gambit and NiP. Both teams had a strong spring showing, and are expected to move forward. The rest of the the teams might end up in a huge tiebreaker scenario, as every single team is able to defeat each other. Only Team One is guaranteed elimination as they are by far the weakest team at this competition.