ESL Challenger League preview: EU & NA

Forty-eight teams, more than 20 different countries, and a single goal: to achieve a place that will allow them to dream of playing among the best teams in the world in the next ESL Pro League.

Starting tomorrow, January 17, until March 26, the teams will fight for a prize of $120,000 and 900 ESL Pro League points. In addition, each ESL Challenger League season’s winning teams from each region, i.e. NA, EU, and ASIA, receive a direct invitation to the next ESL Pro League Conference.

This undoubtedly reinforces the Challenger level of the ESL Pro Tour, as it allows many teams worldwide to break through and dream of playing at the highest level of the ESL Pro Tour.

ESL Challenger League S44

EU

The format that will be used in the ESL Challenger League S44 in the European region will be as follows:

• Double Elimination Brackets.
• All matches will be played in a best-of-three (BO3) format.
• The ESL Challenger League S44 Grand Final will be played in a best-of-five (BO5) format.

Participating Teams

As one of the largest regions in the CS:GO competitive scene, there will be 24 participants in Europe. These teams will play directly in playoff format where we will have eight matches in the first phase of the Upper Bracket because, as we know 8 of them are already qualified for the second round, which is:

• SAW
• Bad New Eagles
• FTW
• BLUEJAYS
• forZe
• Sangal
• Endpoint
• Sprout

On the other hand, the rest of the teams are:

• Monte
• Apeks
• 9INE
• 500
• HEEt
• K23
• Permitta
• Into the Bin
• Falcons
• ECSTATIC
• Ex-Finest
• EYEBALLERS
• LDLC
• Movistar Riders
• Ex-Fnatic Rising
• 1WIN

NA

The format used in the North American region will be completely different than in Europe. In this region, the teams will be divided into two groups of eight in a round-robin format:

• The groups are played all against each other
• All matches are best-of-three (BO3).

The top four teams from each group advance to the playoffs. In this phase, we will have the same format as in the European region:

• Double elimination brackets.
• All matches will be played in the best-of-three (BO3) format.
• The ESL Challenger League S44 Grand Final will be played in a best-of-five (BO5) format.

Participating teams

Group A

• MIBR
• Nouns
• EG Black
• Strife
• Vendetta
• Davenport University
• Mythic
• Post Mortem

Group B

• paiN
• ATK
• TeamOne
• timbermen
• Disconnected
• Detonate
• Limitless
• Villainous

Prize Pool

As we mentioned, the ESL Challenger League S44 brings $120,000 to be distributed among the regions. Next, we will show how the prize pool of the NA and EU regions will be distributed.

• 1st: $20,000
• 2nd: $11,500
• 3rd: $7,000
• 4th: $4,000
• 5th-6th: $2,500
• 7th-8th: $1,250

In addition, it is worth noting that teams finishing in the TOP 10 in the ESL Challenger League in NA will automatically qualify for Season 45. At the same time, teams in the TOP 16 in Europe will also qualify for the next season.

Header: ESL