Due to the worsening coronavirus situation in Europe, ESL had to abandon plans to hold the IEM Global Challenge in LAN format. Previously, the tournament organizer had hoped to stage the event in Cologne to mark the end of a year in which most of the competition was held online. However, on October 29, German authorities announced that a partial lockdown was being imposed as of November, and as a result, the ability to host major events was in doubt.
Michal «Carmac» Blicharz, Vice President of the Professional Cybersports division at ESL, commented on the decision as follows: «Given the growing number of Covid-19 infections in Europe, we are moving the competition to an online format. We would love to bring everyone together for this tournament, but we feel obliged to act responsibly towards the players and staff involved in organizing the event».
The dates of the tournament will not change: The IEM Global Challenge will take place from December 15-20, with a total prize pool of $500,000. Since the participants included the best teams from Europe and North America, and the tournament itself will be the final one for 2020, the results achieved in it will be taken into account for the Intel Grand Slam.
By now, it is known that Heoric and FURIA have already qualified. The remaining teams will be determined by IEM Beijing-Haidan results as well as ESL rankings.