ESL has released the ESL Pro Tour series tournament schedule for 2023. It includes more than forty events that will take place both online and offline.
Of course, the central events in the calendar will be IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne, which were announced back in September. Two key tournaments for the world of professional CS:GO will be held at major stadiums, namely Spodek Arena in Poland and LANXESS Arena in Germany, and their prize pools will total $1 million dollars. The start dates of the tournaments have been shifted compared to 2022: IEM Katowice will start on January 31 and IEM Cologne – on July 25. This decision was made after the organization of professional players in CS:GO (CSPPA) decided to move the summer break to the end of June – early July, so that the duration of the seasons will be more even.
In addition, five EPT Masters tournaments will be held throughout the year, the first of which will be ESL Pro League Season 17, which starts on February 21. The ESL Pro League competition will run for five weeks, rather than the four weeks previously, so there will be no pause between the Conference stage and the main part of the competition.
Also on the tournament calendar – are ESL Challenger League events for different regions, as well as several national championships, through which teams can eventually advance to the Conference stage of the ESL Pro League.