The minimum age for attending the event is 16 years. Children and adolescents under 16 are not permitted to attend the event, even if accompanied by a legal guardian. Proof of age must be provided upon request.

You will receive the link to the presale shop on 07.10.2025. To access the presale shop, you will need to login in to your ESL account on vivenu, using the same email as your 2025 purchase.

If you don’t have an ESL account on vivenu, please create one using the email address you used to purchase your IEM Cologne 2025 ticket. 

If your ticket was purchased by someone else or was gifted to you, please email events@esl.com, providing details of the ticket (barcode, order id etc), as well as your Full Name and Email before 06. October 2025 at 23.59 CEST.

If we can find a matching record in our database, we will add your information to the presale authentication process.

Please follow the steps outlined above once your access has been confirmed.

Our ticket sale is structured in multiple waves to give everyone a fair chance. Each wave has its own separate and limited inventory for every ticket category.

This means that if a ticket you want is marked as "sold out" in Wave 1, a new stock of that same ticket will become available at the start of Wave 2. You will have another opportunity to purchase it then.

As a backup strategy, you can purchase any available ticket to secure your entry. You can then upgrade it to a higher-tier ticket later, subject to availability.

No, tickets are not refundable. Closer to the event, you will have the opportunity to list and sell your tickets on our official resale platform.

Tickets for IEM Cologne 2026 will be going live in waves, with an official pre-sale starting on October 8th for fans that bought the Cathedral Experience at IEM Cologne 2025. Want to get ahead in securing your ticket for the next IEM Cologne? Pre-sale access for next year’s event is included in the IEM+ Upgrade, available alongside all ticket types and included in every Premium ticket!

• Pre-sale start - 8th October 15:00 CEST
• Pre-sale ends - 12th October 23:59 CEST or until sold out
• Wave 1 - 13th October 15:00 CEST
• Wave 2 - 22nd October 15:00 CEST
• Wave 3 - 29th October 15:00 CET

Assigned seating is only available for Premium Reserved and Lower Reserved ticket buyers. All other ticket types are free seating within the seating area that you purchased your ticket for.

You can easily transfer your e-ticket to a friend, family member, or colleague using the vivenu Transfer Tool.

You can access this feature directly by opening the ticket details, either via the order confirmation or from your ticket confirmation email.

Please note that the ticket's barcode will only be released 72 hours before the event, and transfers are not possible with hard tickets.

You are able to buy a maximum of 2 tickets per payment transaction for the pre-sale, and 10 tickets per payment starting in Wave 1.

Yes, at checkout you will have the option to pay in either 3 or 6 monthly instalments.

Yes, you can upgrade your ticket to a higher category, subject to availability. However, you cannot downgrade your ticket to a lower category, nor can you change the day of a single-day ticket.

Please note: If you have a hardticket and choose to upgrade, its barcode will become invalid. You are welcome to keep the old ticket as a memento, but you will need to order a new one if you still want a physical ticket for entry.

You will receive your tickets 72h before the event starts. You will still be able to use our native transfer, rebooking and resale features.

Hardtickets will be shipped within two weeks of the order.

If you want to purchase a full lounge, reach out to us at ticketing@efg.gg.

If we recognise that B2C purchases are taking place for B2B purposes, we may be required to cancel your tickets and you will need to rebook.

Currently there are no plans to sell tickets for Stages 1 and 2.

You will be able to collect your goodie bag across the full weekend at the goodie bag collection point. More details around this will be shared in the event guide sent out during the week of the event.

Further information will be released closer to the event on how to gain access to Meet & Greets.

If you have any ticket related enquiries, please contact vivenu here: https://esl.vivenu.store/support

The main language for the event and all games commentated inside the arena will be English