ESL introduced all participants of IEM Katowice 2023

Tournament operator ESL has presented the full list of participants for the upcoming IEM Katowice 2023. As part of the championship, which will be held from January 31 to February 12 in Katowice at the Spodek Arena, 24 teams from the CIS, Europe, North and Latin America, Asia and Oceania will take part. At the same time, some well-known teams, such as Astralis and Imperial Esports, were left out of the tournament.

While tickets to the group stage of the championship were distributed by success in other tournaments and based on the position in the ESL rankings, places in the Play-In stage were issued by the position of the teams in the ESL rankings by region - three for Europe, two for North America, one each for South America, Asia and Oceania.

Eight teams received direct tickets to the group stage of IEM Katowice 2023 — FaZe Clan, Team Vitality, Outsiders, Heroic, Team Liquid, NAVI, G2 Esports and MOUZ.

In turn, the remaining sixteen participants will start their journey from the Play-In stage - OG, ENCE, BIG, Sprout, paiN Gaming, Evil Geniuses, Team Spirit, Ninjas in Pajamas, Cloud9, Complexity Gaming, FURIA, MIBR, IHC Esports, Grayhound Gaming, Permitta Esports and fnatic.

Due to the system put in place by ESL, there has been some confusion as to how ESL rankings, and thus invitations to IEM Katowice 2023, will change. Organizers weigh tournaments that award ranking points based on the level and distribution of teams, but in hindsight made last-minute changes to some tournaments, such as the Elisa Masters Espoo 2022, which changed the rankings against Astralis. Thus, the Danish team will miss the championship in Katowice, letting other participants go ahead.

In addition, 9z, Imperial Esports and 00NATION are not among the participants of IEM Katowice 2023, who were ahead of other teams from America that took part in the Cash Cup series.

IEM Katowice 2023 will take place from January 31 to February 12 in Katowice at the Spodek Arena. As part of the championship, 24 teams from the CIS, Europe, North and Latin America, Asia and Oceania will compete for a total prize pool of $1,000,000, as well as a ticket to IEM Cologne 2023 for the winner.