We are thrilled to announce that the first invited and confirmed teams for ESL One Cologne 2017 are no other than the Polish and Brazilian CS:GO giants, Virtus.pro and SK Gaming! The two legendary teams will once again compete for the coveted ESL One trophy, with SK Gaming looking to defend their title from Cologne last year and Virtus.pro reclaiming it from Katowice 2014.
SK Gaming
Reigning ESL One Cologne champions have yet to win a tournament since their victory at LANXESS Arena last year. The team has been struggling to get back on the very top, taking 3rd/4th place at events like ESL One New York or EPICENTER, and 2nd place at IEM Oakland and DreamHack Las Vegas. Their most recent LAN performance at IEM World Championship Katowice ended with the team last in their group and did not make it to the playoffs. Nevertheless, a team like SK Gaming should never be underestimated and we look forward to the Brazilians putting up a great fight and proving once again that they are worthy of the ESL One trophy.
Virtus.pro
The long-standing legends of the Polish Plow will once again take their stand and fight for the ESL One championship and trophy which they haven't lifted since ESL Major Series One Katowice 2014. The team made it to the semifinals at ESL One Cologne last year, losing to SK Gaming 1-2. Since then, they took victories at ELEAGUE Season 1, DreamHack Bucharest and DreamHack Las Vegas, as well as 2nd place at ESL One new York and the ELEAGUE Major. At IEM World Championship Katowice, the team did not make it out of the group stage. We cannot wait to see what Virtus.pro will show us this time at ESL One Cologne 2017 - will the Plow be unstoppable?
Get ready for ESL One Cologne!
SK Gaming and Virtus.pro are only the first two out of 16 (!) confirmed teams who will compete at the event. We still have 10 global invites remaining and 4 teams who will come from the qualifiers (info on which will follow soon). ESL One Cologne will be a truly legendary celebration of professional CS:GO with thousands of passionate fans from around the world filling up LANXESS Arena with roars and cheers.
Get your ESL One Cologne 2017 ticket here!
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