We’re excited to share with you all our plans for the future of the ESL Pro League (EPL) within the ESL Pro Tour (EPT).
Key Takeaways:
Our vision is to streamline and simplify the path for teams to advance within the ESL Pro Tour. Moving forward, EPL will become the host of all EPT Challenger tournaments.
In order to facilitate this change, ESL Pro League will be extended by an additional week and a new stage created called the EPL Conference. The EPL Conference will act similar to that of the IEM Cologne & IEM Katowice play-in.
Sixteen teams earn their spots into ESL Pro League exclusively via our EPT Challenger Competitions.
| ESL Challenger |
| ESL National Championships |
| ESL Challenger League |
| ESL Partner Teams |
| ESL World Ranking |
| Conference |
| Group Stages |
| ESL Challenger | TBD |
| ESL National Championships | tbd |
| ESL Challenger League | 5 - 7 |
| ESL Partner Teams | 13 |
| ESL World Ranking | 5 |
| ESL Conference | 6 |
| EPL Group Stages | 6 |
Simplification is key. We’ve implemented these changes with the goal of simplifying the EPT structure to make it clearer and easier for players and teams to understand how to advance within the EPT system.
Simply put: Win an EPT Challenger competition and qualify for ESL Pro League.
The next season will serve as a transitional season as we look to implement our long term vision. What this means is that the EPL S15 slot distribution will honour & respect teams who’ve won or are currently playing for advancement into an EPT Masters competition from 2021.
| DreamHack Open | ESL National Championship | ESEA Premier S38 |
|---|---|---|
| DHO 45 Winner: Team Renewal | 5-8x TBD Slots | NA Runner-Up |
| DHO 45 Winner: Extra Salt | EU Runner-Up | |
| DHO 46: ANZ Winner | ||
| DHO 46: SA Winner | ||
| DHO 46: NA Winner | ||
| DHO 47: EU Winner |
| Conference | Group Stages | PLay-OFFs |
|---|---|---|
| DHO Winners: 6x | ESL Partner Teams: 13x | Group Stages: 12x |
| ESEA Premier S38: 2x | ESL World Ranking: 5x | |
| ESL National Championships: 5-8x | ESEA Premier 38: EU 1st | |
| ESEA Premier 38: NA 1st | ||
| ESEA Premier 38: ANZ 1st | ||
| Conference: 3x |
Due to how the CS:GO calendar is currently planned in 2022, we will be unable to have the EPL Conference take place alongside the Group Stages & Playoffs. Therefore in the upcoming seasons, the EPL Conference will take place several weeks ahead during the already scheduled DreamHack festival dates.
The EPL Season 15 Conference will take place online. Starting in 2022 it will transition to become a LAN competition and take place at DreamHack festivals respectively.
Following the implementation of these structural changes to both EPL and the EPT system we’re excited to see which teams will be successful at the Season 15 EPL Conference! There’s plenty of elite tier Counter-Strike coming up within the ESL Pro Tour, most notably Intel® Extreme Masters: Fall 2021 standing out as an RMR event will begin soon!
