The 15th season of ESL Pro League, one of the most prestigious CS:GO tournaments in the world, is set to run from March 9 to April 10 with a total of 24 teams in attendance.
This edition of the Pro League will be the first since season 10 to be played on LAN. The past four editions had to be played online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will feature an $823,000 prize pool and will be played in a studio environment from Düsseldorf, Germany. Unlike IEM Katowice, ESL’s last big tournament, this Pro League won’t have a live crowd during the playoffs.
Teams like Natus Vincere, FaZe, G2, and Vitality are some of the biggest candidates to win the tournament. This will be the second big tournament to be played amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine and as a result of the war, ESL has prohibited Virtus Pro and Gambit, two organizations with “apparent ties” to the Russian government, to display their brand. Their players are free to attend the event as long as they use a neutral name, and don’t represent Russia, their organizations, or their sponsors on their clothing.
Here’s everything you need to know about ESL Pro League season 15.
Stream
ESL Pro League season 15 will be mainly broadcast on ESL’s main Twitch channel, but the last day of each group will have simultaneous matches going on, so don’t forget to check the second and third Twitch channel to follow your favorite team. There will also be alternate broadcasts such as Gaules (Portuguese) and 99Damage (Germany) for those who prefer to watch it in their own first language.
Format
The 24 teams in attendance were split into four groups of six. The groups will be played separately, which means the action on Group B only starts after Group A is finished. All teams will play each other during the group stage in best-of-three series. The group winners advance straight to the quarterfinals, while the second and third-placed squads move to the Round of 12.
The playoffs will place the teams in a single-elimination bracket and all the matches are best-of-three series, except the best-of-five grand final. The winner of ESL Pro League season 15 will take home $175,000 and secure a spot at the BLAST World Final, while the runners-up will win $70,000.
Teams
Group A
G2
- Nikola “NiKo” Kovač
- Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač
- Audric “JaCkz” Jug
- Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov
- François “AMANEK” Delaunay (temporary stand-in)
- Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen (out until he tests negative for COVID-19)
- Coach: Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam
Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Nicolas “Plopski” Zamora
- Hampus Poser
- Fredrik “REZ” Sterner
- Patrick “es3tag” Hansen
- Love “phzy” Smidebrant
- Coach: Daniel “djL” Narancic
Entropiq
- Aleksey “El1an” Gusev
- Viktor “Lack1” Boldyrev
- Alexey “NickelBack” Trofimov
- Vladislav “Krad” Kravchenko
- Igor “forester” Bezotecheskiy
- Coach: Dmitry “hooch” Bogdanov
MOUZ
- David “frozen” Čerňanský
- Christopher “dexter” Nong
- Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras
- Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt
- Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás
- Coach: Dennis “sycrone” Nielsen
Fnatic
- Alex McMeekin
- Peppe “Peppzor” Borak
- William “mezii” Merriman
- Valentin “poizon” Vasilev
- Matias “Banjo” Kivistö (stand-in for KRIMZ)
- Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson (out until he tests negative for COVID-19)
- Coach: Jamie “keita” Hall
Looking For Org
- Euan “sterling” Moore
- James Savage
- Mike “apoc” Aliferis
- Benson “Liki” Niuila
- Jared “HaZR” O’Bree
- Coach: Mike “HudzM” Hudson
Group B
Vitality
- Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
- Dan “apEX” Madesclaire
- Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier
- Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen
- Emil “Magisk” Reif
- Coach: Danny “zonic” Sørensen
Outsiders (VP’s players)
- Dzhami “Jame” Ali
- Alexey “qikert” Golubev
- Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis
- Timur “buster” Tulepov
- Evgeny “FL1T” Lebedev
- Coach: Dastan Akbayev
FaZe Clan
- Håvard “rain” Nygaard
- Helvijs “broky” Saukants
- Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken
- Finn “karrigan” Andersen
- Robin “ropz” Kool
- Coach: Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström
FURIA
- Yuri “yuurih” Gomes
- Andrei “arT” Piovezan
- Rafael “saffee” Costa
- Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato
- André “drop” Abreu
- Coach: Nicholas “guerri” Nogueira
ENCE
- Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer
- Lotan “Spinx” Giladi
- Paweł Dycha
- Olek “hades” Miskiewicz
- Pavle “Maden” Bošković
- Coach: Eetu “sAw” Saha
Sprout
- Timo “Spiidi” Richter
- Fritz “slaxz-” Dietrich
- Rasmus “raalz” Steensborg
- Victor Staehr
- Max “Marix” Kugener
- Coach: Danny “BERRY” Krüger
Group C
Players (Gambit’s players)
- Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov
- Abay “Hobbit” Khassenov
- Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov
- Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov
- Timofey “interz” Yakushin
- Coach: Konstantin “groove” Pikiner
Team Liquid
- Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski
- Keith “NAF” Markovic
- Richard “shox” Papillon
- Joshua “oSee” Ohm
- Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella
- Coach: Eric “adreN” Hoag
GODSENT
- Epitácio “TACO” de Melo
- Henrique “HEN1” Teles
- Bruno “latto” Rebelatto
- Bruno “b4rtiN” Câmara
- Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer
- Coach: Olavo “cky” Napoleão
BIG
- Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz
- Florian “syrsoN” Rische
- Nils “k1to” Gruhne or Karim “Krimbo” Moussa (to be confirmed by the organization)
- Tizian Feldbusch
- Josef “faveN” Baumann
- Coach: Niclas “enkay J” Krumhorn
Movistar Riders
- Alejandro “mopoz” Fernández-Quejo Cano
- Alejandro “ALEX” Masanet Candela
- Raúl “DeathZz” Jordán Nieto
- Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia
- David “dav1g” Granado Bermudo
- Coach: Galder “bladE” Barcena
Party Astronauts
- Josh “PwnAlone” Pigue
- Ben “ben1337” Smith
- Jonathan “Jonji” Carey
- Jonathan “djay” Dallal
- Peter “ptr” Gurney (stand-in for viz)
- Coach: Joseph “Muenster” Lima
Group D
Natus Vincere
- Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
- Denis “electronic” Sharipov
- Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov
- Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy
- Valerii “B1T” Vakhovskyi
- Coach: Andrii “B1ad3” Gorodenskyi
Heroic
- Casper “cadiaN” Møller
- Martin “stavn” Lund
- Ismail “refrezh” Ali
- René “TeSeS” Madsen
- Rasmus “sjuush” Beck
- Coach: Richard “Xizt” Landström
Astralis
- Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
- Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
- Asger “farlig” Jensen
- Benjamin “blameF” Bremer
- Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke
- Coach: Martin “trace” Heldt (stand-in coach)
Evil Geniuses
- Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte
- Tsvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov
- Jake “Stewie2K” Yip
- Timothy “autimatic” Ta
- William “RUSH” Wierzba
- Coach: Damien “maLeK” Marcel
Complexity
- Johnny “JT” Theodosiou
- Justin “FaNg” Coakley
- Ricky “floppy” Kemery
- Michael “Grim” Wince
- Paytyn “junior” Johnson
- Coach: Tiaan “T.c” Coertzen
AGO
- Damian “Furlan” Kisłowski
- Maciej “F1KU” Miklas
- Eryk “leman” Kocięba
- Szymon “kRaSnaL” Mrozek
- Denis “Grashog” Hristov
- Coach: Mikołaj “miNIr0x” Michałków
Group stage schedule
All times are CT and susceptible to delays.
Wednesday, March 9
- 5:30am: G2 vs. LFO
- 9am: Entropiq vs. MOUZ
- 12:30pm: NiP vs. Fnatic
Thursday, March 10
- 5:30am: G2 vs. MOUZ
- 9am: NiP vs. Entropiq
- 12:30pm: Fnatic vs. LFO
Friday, March 11
- 5:30am: NiP vs. MOUZ
- 9am: Entropiq vs. LFO
- 12:30pm: G2 vs. Fnatic
Saturday, March 12
- 5:30am: NiP vs. LFO
- 9am: MOUZ vs. Fnatic
- 12:30pm: G2 vs. Entropiq
Sunday, March 13
- 12:30pm: G2 vs. NiP
- 12:30pm: Entropiq vs. Fnatic
- 12:30pm: MOUZ vs. LFO
Wednesday, March 16
- 5:30am: Vitality vs. Sprout
- 9am: FaZe vs. ENCE
- 12:30pm: FURIA vs. Outsiders
Thursday, March 17
- 5:30am: Vitality vs. ENCE
- 9am: FURIA vs. Sprout
- 12:30pm: FaZe vs. Outsiders
Friday, March 18
- 5:30am: Vitality vs. FURIA
- 9am: Outsiders vs. ENCE
- 12:30pm: FaZe vs. Sprout
Saturday, March 19
- 5:30am: ENCE vs. FURIA
- 9am: Outsiders vs. Sprout
- 12:30pm: FaZe vs. Vitality
Sunday, March 20
- 12:30pm: Vitality vs. Outsiders
- 12:30pm: FaZe vs. FURIA
- 12:30pm: ENCE vs. Sprout
Wednesday, March 23
- 5:30am: Gambit’s players vs. Party Astronauts
- 9am: GODSENT vs. Movistar Riders
- 12:30pm: Liquid vs. BIG
Thursday, March 24
- 5:30am: Gambit’s players vs. Movistar Riders
- 9am: BIG vs. Party Astronauts
- 12:30pm: Liquid vs. GODSENT
Friday, March 25
- 5:30am: Gambit’s players vs. BIG
- 9am: Liquid vs. Movistar Riders
- 12:30pm: Party Astronauts vs. GODSENT
Saturday, March 26
- 5:30am: BIG vs. Movistar Riders
- 9am: Liquid vs. Party Astronauts
- 12:30pm: Gambit’s players vs. GODSENT
Sunday, March 27
- 12:30pm: Gambit’s players vs. Liquid
- 12:30pm: BIG vs. GODSENT
- 12:30pm: Party Astronauts vs. Movistar Riders
Wednesday, March 30
- 4:30am: NAVI vs. AGO
- 8am: Heroic vs. Complexity
- 11:30am: Astralis vs. EG
Thursday, March 31
- 4:30am: AGO vs. Complexity
- 8am: Heroic vs. Astralis
- 11:30am: NAVI vs. EG
Friday, April 1
- 4:30am: Astralis vs. AGO
- 8am: Heroic vs. EG
- 11:30am: NAVI vs. Complexity
Saturday, April 2
- 4:30am: Heroic vs. AGO
- 8am: EG vs. Complexity
- 11:30am: NAVI vs. Astralis
Sunday, April 3
- 11:30am: NAVI vs. Heroic
- 11:30am: Astralis vs. Complexity
- 11:30am: AGO vs. EG
