As the age of “franchised” partnership in Counter-Strike nears its end and the scene gears up for a bumper open circuit in 2025, organizer PGL is making its foray into the competitive calendar with its own tournaments over the next two years.
In doing so, PGL will join the likes of ESL and BLAST as the major organizers for Counter-Strike 2‘s open circuit starting in early January 2025. Here’s everything we know about PGL’s involvement in CS2 as the scene shifts next year.
PGL’s CS2 event circuit explained
Before the PGL Copenhagen Major grand final on March 31, the organizers announced they would be entering a series of events in the now-open 2025 and 2026 competitive calendar for Counter-Strike 2.
PGL’s schedule will see five tournaments take place in 2025 and six in 2026, making CS2 the second game in which PGL will begin hosting its own circuit of events after announcing eight Dota 2 tournaments back in March.
These are the tentative dates for the PGL CS2 event circuit for 2025 and 2026:
- 2025
- Feb. 10 to 24
- March 31 to April 14
- May 3 to 19
- Sept. 29 to Oct. 13
- Oct. 18 to Nov. 3
- 2026
- Feb. 16 to March 2
- March 23 to April 6
- May 2 to 18
- Aug. 3 to 17
- Sept. 28 to Oct. 12
- Oct. 19 to Nov. 2
Where will PGL host its CS2 tournaments and what format will they use?
Little more is known at this stage as to the formats of these tournaments or their locations. PGL has historically run events from locations in Europe; however, the TO also has ties with Perfect World, the Chinese distributor for CS2, so we could eventually see PGL expand into China and Asia at some point over the two years.
Given many of these tournaments run over two weeks, each is expected to host at least 16 teams and include group or Swiss stages, but other information is not known as yet. We’ll update this article when PGL makes announcements.
PGL has hosted numerous CS:GO Majors over the past few years and has historically been Valve’s go-to organizer for top events, but this is the first time the organizer is venturing into CS2 outside of a Major tournament. PGL was granted the first CS2 Major in Copenhagen, Denmark in March 2024.
“Thanks to the CS2 licensing rules that enable any organizer to host events and the prohibition of conflicts of interest between organizers and teams, PGL can pave the way for more diverse and competitive CS2 events,” PGL said on March 31.
