How it Works

The ESL Pro Tour

The ESL Pro Tour is a circuit that connects all ESL and DreamHack tournaments, creating an open ecosystem that provides opportunities for players and teams all over the world to compete at the biggest tournaments across the CS:GO calendar.

Throughout the circuit, teams compete to earn ESL Pro Tour points which determine their ESL Pro Tour Race. The teams on the top positions will qualify for the EPT Championships (IEM Katowice, ESL One Cologne powered by Intel) which serve to determine the best teams in the ESL Pro Tour.

ESL Pro Tour

Points 

ESL Pro Tour Race Points are allocated to every competition within the EPT. Leading into each EPT Championship, the best 8 teams are invited directly into its Final 16. Teams 9-16 in the standings are flown into the Play-In Stage of the EPT Championship.

Another eight slots in the Play-In are reserved for two teams from the EPT Challenger National Competitions and six teams with the highest ESL World Ranking that missed out on a top 16 EPT Race position.

EPT Masters Championship

Play In

9 - 16 EPT

ESL World ranking
+ Challenger

Final 16

1 - 8 EPT

Standings

What is the difference between the ESL World Ranking and the EPT Race?

The ESL Pro Tour Race measures performance strictly inside the ESL Pro Tour and the CS:GO Majors. The simplified explanation is: “The best 16 teams in EPT and Major competitions of the 12 months before ESL One Cologne will qualify for it.”
(Technically it’s not 12 months but from ESL One Cologne one year to ESL One Cologne the next year.)

There is a simple decay, where “old results” are counted at 50% of their value and more recent results are counted at 100%.

The ESL World Ranking measures performance by all teams in all tournaments regardless. Its aim is to accurately describe which lineups are currently the best. The ranking is used for the purposes of seeding tournaments and non-ESL partnered team EPT invitations.

The ESL WR is more sophisticated than the ESL Pro Tour point system and has a much more gradual decay and is primarily player-based (meaning that new lineups can be ranked immediately). For the purposes of seeding in CS:GO, this is optimal. Show FAQs.

Any changes to the ESL World Ranking need to take into account that they have to very accurately reflect how good lineups are expected to be, otherwise it will ruin seeding and could potentially put very strong teams into already strong groups.

Challenger Level Competitions

The EPT Challenger level is where aspiring amateurs and semi pros are able to make a name for themselves.
This is the tier below the Masters competitions which play an important role within the ESL Pro Tour, providing ESL Pro Tour points and invitations into Masters level tournaments.
The ESL National Championship winners will have an opportunity to play in DreamHack Open tournaments. National Championship winners will also have the opportunity to compete for the ESL European Championship (EEC) title which provides a slot to the Play-In for each EPT Championship.
DreamHack Open winners will be guaranteed one slot at a subsequent EPT Masters tournament, (excluding Masters Championships and Major Championships).
Mountain Dew League will provide direct qualification into the ESL Pro League.

ESL Pro Tour

Point Allocation 

Each tournament within the ESL Pro Tour provides ESL Pro Tour Race Points. The number of points and its allocation will vary based on the amount of participating teams and the total prize pool.

Offline Event Allocation

Championship
ESL Pro League
16 Teams
8 Teams
1ST
1800 points
1300 points
1000 points
800 points
2ND
1400 points
1000 points
750 points
550 points
3RD-4TH
1100 points
775 points
525 points
350 points
5TH-6TH
825 points
575 points
350 points
175 points
7TH-8TH
575 points
400 points
200 points
0 points
9TH-12TH
325 points
250 points
100 points
13TH-16TH
125 points
100 points
0 points
17TH-20TH
60 points
50 points
21ST-24TH
0 points
0 points

Online Event Allocation

ESL Pro League XI

Point system
EU
18 Teams
NA
6 Teams
1ST
650 points
550 points
2ND
480 points
400 points
3RD
350 points
250 points
4TH
290 points
150 points
5TH
250 points
90 points
6TH
210 points
60 points
7TH-9TH
150 points
10TH-12TH
100 points
13TH-15TH
80 Points
16TH-18TH
60 Points

Missing online event allocation will be updated soon

Player Transfer

If a player joins a new team, their points will only be counted towards the ESL Pro Tour Race again after they have competed in a Masters or Challenger event under their new organisation.

Until then, the new player’s points will be NO HIGHER THAN the points of the player he/she has replaced in the team.

This is done to prevent tampering with the standings in order to qualify for the Masters Championships (“buying a ranking position”).

intel grand slam

Teams will claim the $1 million prize if they win 4 ESL Pro Tour Masters events inside a span of ten competitions as long as at least 1 of those trophies was won at an EPT Championship level event. Otherwise, teams require 6 tournament victories during a window of ten events to collect the Intel Grand Slam prize.

Due to the current regional separation of the world’s top teams into regional divisions, results from regionally split events with multiple champions do not count towards the Intel Grand Slam.

Events in 2021

We have released our ESL Pro Tour Masters CS:GO calendar for 2021. Please see our tournament schedule below.

EPT point allocation

The point value mechanic ensures that EPT Masters Championship participants represent the current best performing teams in the world.

Points will count 100% towards the nearest EPT Masters Championship and 50% towards the subsequent edition. Points from one EPT Masters Championship to the next one will count as 100% their value, however count as 0% to the next edition of the same EPT Masters Championship one year later.

CS:GO majors

All CS:GO Majors will count towards the ESL Pro Tour Standings, regardless of the company hosting them. CS:GO Majors are events of great significance and doing well there should help you earn points towards qualifying to EPT Masters Championships.

EPT Masters Championships

The two EPT Masters Championships IEM Katowice in Winter and ESL One Cologne in Summer are the largest events in the ESL Pro Tour, serving as the culmination of a year's worth of work for participating teams.

Katowice 2021

24 TEAMS | $1,000,000
Road to Katowice
16 - 28 Febuary

COLOGNE 2021

24 TEAMS | $1,000,000
Road to Cologne
6 - 18 July