We are happy to announce that the ninth team confirmed for ESL One Cologne 2017 is no other than Cloud9! The North American squad will join Virtus.pro, SK Gaming, FaZe Clan, Na'Vi, North, Ninjas in Pyjamas, G2 Esports and FNATIC in the battle for the ESL One trophy and a share of the US$250,000 prize pool.

Cloud9 is one of North America's most beloved CS:GO teams. Their recent LAN performances have been rather shaky. They went out in the group stage at both DreamHack Las Vegas and IEM World Championship Katowice. Later, they failed to qualify for StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3 after a 1-2 to Renegades in the qualifier quarterfinals.

The team picked themselves up this month, winning the iBUYPOWER Invitational Spring and defeating Selfless, Liquid and OpTic on the way. Their most recent LAN performance was at cs_summit where they took fourth place after losing 1-2 to OpTic Gaming in lower bracket (after they won 2-0 against them in the quarterfinals). They've also been performing well in the ESL Pro League where they currently occupy the third slot.

Cloud9 did not make it to the big stage in LANXESS Arena last year, will they manage this time? We are looking forward to what they will show us in Cologne this July!

See you in Cologne!

We now know nine teams confirmed for the event: Cloud9, North, G2 Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Natus Vincere, FNATIC, FaZe, Virtus.pro and SK. There are still 3 invites and 4 teams from qualifiers to go! Be sure to be among the roaring crowd that will once again fill LANXESS Arena - get your ticket here!

Remember to keep your eyes peeled to ESL CS on Twitter and Facebook for all updates about invited teams, qualifiers, and more.