BIG and 9INE qualify for 2023 IEM Brazil dominating closed-qualifers

The European organization BIG and 9INE dominated the IEM Spring 2023: European Qualifier to secure the two available spots at the 2023 IEM Spring Brazil.

After successfully surviving through the lower bracket of the European closed qualifier, BIG secured a spot at IEM Brazil. After being demoted to the lower bracket by Ukrainian underdogs Monte in the first round of the event, the team rallied and crushed Sprout, HEET, and ENCE with dominating 2-0 victories to get to the final match against HONRIS. Despite dropping the opening round, the German lineup pulled off an amazing reverse sweep to crush HONORIS, 2-1, in a hard-fought consolidation final. 

Earlier in the event, 9INE secured the first slot at IEM Brazil after going unbeaten in the upper bracket. They beat Sprout and Monte handily en route to the upper bracket final, where they bested their Polish rival HONORIS with a clean 2-0 victory. The Brazilian competition, which runs from April 17 to 23, will be 9INE’s first significant CS:GO outing.

Although the Polish side have some notable achievement in their name in B-tier, they have never qualified for a major CS:GO tournament, having previously failed to be eligible for the ESL Pro League Season 17.  The squad finished in the top eight of the European Conference after suffering a sad loss to End Point in the lower bracket and getting destroyed by the Russian side forZe in the upper bracket.

The IEM is prepping up well for their next big stop in Brazil 

When the IEM Rio Major, one of the biggest and most prestigious CS:GO tournaments of the year, was played in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in November of last year, the support and love from the local fan shocked the global esports community. 

Building on the tremendous success, IEM will return to the nation with another CS:GO competition, IEM Brazil 2023, slated to run from April 17 to April 23. There will be 16 teams competing in the competition, and 11 of them received direct invites from the organizers. 

After IHC, BIG, and 9INE filled the three spots available in the European and Asian closed qualifiers, there are only two spots available for the Brazilian event. The champions of the North American and South American closed qualifiers, which will take place from February 15 to 16, will fill the final two spots.

There are still more than two months until the CS:GO event in Brazil goes live, so all eyes are currently on the four teams competing at IEM Katowice for a sizable prize money and the opportunity to be named the first champion of the year in the legendary Spodek Arena.

Header: ESL Gaming