ESL Pro League

ESL Pro League

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League name	ESL Pro League
Current season	ESL Pro League Season 11
Last season	ESL Pro League Season 10
abbreviation	EPL
Association	ESL , ESEA
owner	ESL
League foundation	April 28, 2015
Teams	48
Title holder	Team Liquid
↓ ESEA League

The ESL Pro League (EPL) is the highest professional division of the Electronic Sports League in the discipline Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on an international level.

format

The ESL Pro League is divided into four regions, Europe , America , Asia and Oceania , each with sixteen (Europe and America) and eight (Asia and Oceania) teams. The process is divided into two rounds and the finals . Due to the differing number of teams in the leagues, there are different processes for the regions and are as follows:

Round 1

Europe

• four groups in round robin format,
• each group consists of 4 teams,
• all games are played as best-of-three ,
• the groups are divided based on the ESL CS: GO World Ranking ,
• the group winners qualify directly for the finals ,
• the second and third go into the second round ,
• the bottom of the group must play in the relegation to stay in the league

America

• four groups in round robin format,
• three groups for [North America] and one for Latin America ,
• each group consists of 4 teams,
• all games are played as best-of-three ,
• the groups are divided based on the ESL CS: GO World Ranking ,
• the group winners qualify directly for the finals ,
• the second and third go into the second round ,
• the bottom of the group must play in the relegation to stay in the league

Asia

• two groups in round robin format,
• one group for China and one for Southeast Asia
• each group consists of 4 teams,
• all games are played as best-of-three ,
• the groups are divided based on the ESL CS: GO World Ranking ,
• the group first and second go to the second round

Oceania

• two groups in round robin format,
• each group consists of 4 teams,
• all games are played as best-of-three ,
• the groups are divided based on the ESL CS: GO World Ranking ,
• the group first and second go to the second round

round 2

There are also different processes for the regions in the second phase:

Europe

• two groups in round robin format,
• each group consists of 4 teams,
• all games are played as best-of-three ,
• the group first and second qualify for the finals

America

• two groups in round robin format,
• each group consists of 4 teams,
• all games are played as best-of-three ,
• the group winners qualify for the finals

Asia and Oceania

• a group in round robin format,
• each group consists of 4 teams,
• all games are played as best-of-three ,
• the group winners qualify for the finals

So there are eight teams from Europe, six teams from America, and one team each from Asia and Oceania in the finals

Finals and knockout phase

The sixteen best teams from the 4 regions compete against each other in 2 groups with 8 teams each in the double knock-out system. The group winners go straight to the semi-finals, while the teams placed second and third go to the quarter-finals. In the knockout phase , the six remaining teams compete against each other until a winner is finally chosen in the final.

history

At the beginning of November 2014, the Electronic Sports League announced the establishment of the ESL Pro League as the highest European league of the ESL. The first season started on December 10th, 2014 and ended with the LAN finals in the Cologne ESL studio with the winner Natus Vincere . On April 28, 2015, the ESL announced the hosting of two more seasons in cooperation with the US ESEA League . With a prize pool of half a million US dollars per season, the organizers were able to convince the best teams from Europe and North America to participate in the new ESL ESEA Pro League . The Brazilian team Keyd Stars , whose players had previously moved from their home countries to North America, also became part of the North American league . In the offline finals of the first season , which took place from July 2 to July 5, 2015 in the ESL studios in Cologne, the Swedish lineup from fnatic was able to secure victory. Before the start of the second season , which was played from September to December 2015, the ESL ESEA Pro League Invitational took place in Dubai in mid-September 2015 . In the second season itself, fnatic was able to defend its title in the offline finals dominated by European teams. After the E-Sports Entertainment Association was bought by the Electronic Sports League, those responsible again renamed the league the ESL Pro League . In 2016, US $ 1.5 million will be distributed in the EPL. For the first time, an American team secured victory in the third season with Luminosity Gaming . For the fourth season , the number of participants in both continental leagues has been increased to 14. The winner of the fourth edition, the offline finals of which were held in São Paulo , was the US team Cloud 9 . At the end of the fifth season , G2 Esports was the first French quintet to secure the championship title at the beginning of June 2017 .

The sixth season started on August 22, 2017, the prize money was 1 million US dollars, with the offline final taking place in Odense . SK Gaming prevailed against FaZe Clan in the final and was able to win the EPL for the first time. In the seventh season of the EPL there were several changes in the league structure, as two North American teams canceled their participation at short notice. A qualification tournament for the Asia-Pacific region and a South American league were therefore played for the offline final. The Danish team Astralis dominated in all respects, had to give up the first map point in the final and finally won against Team Liquid with 3: 1 .

Attendees

The following table lists the participants in the ninth season.

Europe	America	Asia	Oceania
Astralis	MIBR	BOOT-dreamScape	ORDER
Natus Vincere	Ghost gaming	Lucid Dream	Chiefs Esports Club
BIG	Team Liquid	ALPHA Red	Grayhound Gaming
North	NRG Esports	Entity gaming	Breakaway Esports
HellRaisers	Renegades	TYLOO	Avant gaming
mousesports	INTZ eSport	Vici Gaming	Paradox gaming
G2 esports	eUnited	MVP PK	Ground Zero Gaming
Windigo Gaming	Cloud9	5Power	Athletico Esports
ex space soldiers	Complexity
Heroic	Luminosity
FaZe Clan	Team Envy
Ninjas in pajamas	Lazarus
Fnatic	Isurus Gaming
OpTic Gaming	Infinity Esports
Aristocracy	Denial esports
ex-3DMAX	DETONA gaming

Web links

• official Pro League website of the ESL

Individual evidence

1. ↑ World's largest Counter-Strike league to be hosted by ESL and ESEA. Million dollar prize pool for 2015's best Counter-Strike teams from North America and Europe. (No longer available online.) ESL, April 28, 2015, archived from the original on May 2, 2015 ; accessed on May 22, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ GAMES 15 teams up with ESL to launch $ 250,000 ESL ESEA Pro League Invitational in Dubai. eslgaming.com, August 3, 2015, accessed August 16, 2015 . 
3. ↑ ESL Pro League with $ 1.5 million. hltv.org, January 18, 2016, accessed January 19, 2016 . 
4. ↑ ESL announce Pro League changes. hltv.org, April 21, 2016, accessed April 25, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Welcome to Season 6 of the ESL Pro League! Retrieved on August 23, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Zvonimir Burazin: SK defeat FaZe to win ESL Pro League Season 6. hltv.org, December 10, 2017, accessed on December 13, 2017 (English). 
7. ↑ Luis Mira: Astralis beat Liquid 3-1 to win ESL Pro League S7. hltv.org, May 21, 2018, accessed on August 6, 2018 .