In less than one month time we kick off the largest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event in the world, ESL One Cologne 2015. Sixteen teams will make their way to Cologne, Germany to fight for their share of the $250,000 prize pool and the title of ESL One champion. To decide this teams we will be using the following format:

We start the event with 4 groups of 4 teams each. Each group contains 2 legendary teams and 2 challenger teams. The teams will fight it out in a double elimination best-of-1 format per group with a small twist. The top 2 of each group will qualify for the playoffs.

The twist comes at the end of the first day of matches:

On the first day, all 4 groups will be played out up to and including the winners match, with the elimination match and deciding match still to be played out. This means that 4 teams will have qualified for the quarter finals and everyone else still has a chance to make it that far.

At the end of day 1, we will redraw the groups and seed the quarterfinals ensuring that a team cannot face off against a team that they have faced off against before until they reach the grand finals. After this swap, the teams will continue their run through the groups against their new opponents and try to reach a spot in the quarter finals.

Starting from the quarterfinals all matches will be single elimination Bo3.

Schedule:

Thursday August 20th - Group Stage Part 1

• Per group: Both initial matches and the winners Match
• At the end of Day 1, groups redrawn and quarterfinals seeded

Friday August 21st - Group Stage Part 2

• Per group: Elimination match and decider Match

Saturday August 22nd - Quarter Finals

Sunday August 23rd - Semi Finals and Grand Finals