The 14th Season of ESL Pro League will take place online due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID-related travel restrictions. In making the final decision, the league’s 12 partnered teams, the EPL Player Council as well as the CSPPA have been kept informed of any and all developments. The tournament will be played analogous to Season 13 with all 24 teams competing from their homes or boot camp locations within Europe.
We would have loved to continue on LAN, but with the first playday kicking off in four weeks, the ever-changing challenges are simply too great to overcome as we are facing different conditions compared to IEM Cologne 2021. Especially with the drastic rise of the Delta variant of COVID-19 across Europe, undergoing similar if not tighter safety restrictions without local governing support is not sustainable for players, teams, talent and our crew as ESL Pro League is twice as long as IEM Cologne. Going online is the safest option to make sure all teams will still be able to compete in Season 14 while not risking anyone getting stuck with travel complications.
Yet, we look forward to welcoming players back on the server for ESL Pro League Season 14 after the annual Tournament Break and we hope to see all of you in twitch chat on August 16th!
Our team will continue to evaluate the dynamic status and work towards bringing our competitions back to LAN for IEM Fall 2021 (Sep 28 - Oct 1) and IEM Winter 2021 (Dec 2 - 12).
Be sure to keep an eye on the EPT CS:GO Website and follow @ESLCS on Twitter for more news and updates!