2026 marks ESL Pro League returning to an arena setting for the playoffs and we’re excited to share the conclusion of each season in person with fans going forward. We've already announced that Season 24 will bring us to Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland.

The first season of the year, Season 23, will see Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the competition take place online, before taking the playoffs to LAN. For Season 24, we’re implementing a format change in order to bring the entire competition to LAN.

This change will require the competition to consist of 16 participating teams. ESL Pro League will still begin in a Swiss tournament format with 16 teams competing, all matches will be played best-of-three. We will continue to use a seeding variation compared to other events, where in 2025 we used Team Selected Seeding which received great community feedback. Playoffs will continue to feature 8 teams in a single elimination bracket. Playoffs will be played best-of-three, including the third place decider, while the Grand Final is played best-of-five.

With this change we reduce the event footprint, now spanning across two weeks as opposed to previously three. These changes only relate to Season 24 for now, we will continue to explore options for future seasons of ESL Pro League. This includes gathering community feedback, interfacing with participating teams and players, and ultimately what makes for an exciting competition in the end.

Teams will once again be competing for $1,000,000 in Total Winnings and the event will count towards the ESL Grand Slam race for a chance to win $1,000,000.