Imperial and paiN among invited teams to closed qualifiers for ESL Challenger Rotterdam

ESL has revealed the invites for the upcoming closed qualifiers for ESL Challenger Rotterdam 2022.

Some familiar faces will try their best to qualify for the CS:GO event in The Netherlands. Among eight teams invited to the close qualifiers, there are Imperial Esports and paiN Gaming, the two finalists of ESL Challenger Melbourne 2022, which took place last weekend. In the battle of the Brazilian sides, it was the latter who walked away with a victory, $50,000, and a spot in the ESL Pro League season 17 Conference.

Two invites to the closed qualifier in North America have also been announced, with ATK and ex-Gaimin Gladiators taking up the two slots in their region. They will meet Team oNe eSports in the qualifier, who already made their way through the first open qualifier, while the second one is yet to be played.

Four European squads have accepted invitations to the closed qualifier in their region—forZe, Sprout, Eternal Fire, and Entropiq. All four of them are currently in HLTV’s top 30 rankings, so the battle for the one spot at ESL Challenger Rotterdam 2022 will be fierce.

Overall, one team will advance from each region, with Nixuh already claiming their spot in the event in The Netherlands by succeeding in the South African qualifier. They will be joined by four other squads that will be directly invited. The invites themselves, however, remain unknown as of now.

The latest ESL Challenger tournament was held in Melbourne, Australia. The final saw two Brazilian, sides, Imperial and paiN, battle it out for the trophy, with the latter coming out on top in the end.

ESL Challenger Rotterdam 2022 will begin on Oct. 10, and like the event in Melbourne, will have a $100,000 prize pool and a slot in EPL Conference S17 on the table.