ESL One: Road to Rio groups revealed

ESL introduced the groups and complete schedule for ESL One: Road to Rio today.

The CS:GO tournament series will start next week on April 22 in Europe and the Americas, while the CIS region will kick off on April 30. Asia and Oceania will be the last regions to start on May 6.

Valve will sponsor a $255,000 prize pool for the tournament series as a whole, with Europe taking $115,000, Americas getting $70,000, CIS featuring $50,000, and Asia and Oceania getting $10,000 each.

But teams will also be competing for Regional Major Ranking (RMR) points, which is the only way to qualify for the CS:GO ESL One Rio Major in November. This will be the first RMR series out of two, according to HLTV.org, with the second one coming between the player break and October 18. Valve abandoned invitations for the Rio Major earlier this month to ensure that the Major features the top CS:GO teams in the world.

ESL will use the same format for Europe, North America, and CIS. The teams from these regions have been split into two round-robin best-of-three groups. In Europe, the top four teams from each group will proceed to a double-elimination bracket.

As for North America and CIS, the top three teams from each group will advance to a single-elimination bracket. In Asia, only the top two squads will move on to the playoffs.

South America and Oceania will use the same format, too. The teams will play a round-round group stage, with the top team advancing to the final and the runners-up and third-place squad moving on to the semifinals.

Here are the groups for ESL One: Road to Rio and when they’ll be playing.

Europe

Dates: April 22 to May 17

Group A

• Astralis
• Complexity
• Dignitas
• ENCE
• Fnatic
• Heretics
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Vitality

Group B

• C0ntact Gaming
• Copenhagen Flames
• FaZe
• G2
• GODSENT
• Mousesports
• Movistar Riders
• North

North America

Dates: April 22 to May 10

Group A

• Cloud9
• Evil Geniuses
• Gen.G
• Orgless
• Triumph
• 100 Thieves

Group B

• Bad News Bears
• Envy
• FURIA
• MIBR
• Team Liquid
• Yeah Gaming

CIS

Dates: April 30 to May 17

Group A

• ForZe
• Gambit Youngsters
• Nemiga
• Team Spirit
• Team Unique
• Winstrike

Group B

• Espada
• Hard Legion
• Natus Vincere
• Pro100
• Syman
• Virtus Pro

Asia

Dates: May 6 to 10

Group A

• Lucid Dream
• Tiger
• ViCi
• Tiebreaker team

Group B

• Camel Riders
• Mazaalai
• TYLOO
• Tiebreaker team

Oceania

Dates: May 6 to 10

Group

• Chiefs
• Ground Zero
• ORDER
• Renegades

South America

Dates: April 22 to 26

• BOOM
• Isurus
• RED Canids
• Tiebreaker team