FURIA Esports get reinvited to IEM Rio

FURIA Esports were one of the best CS:GO teams of 2022. At the moment, they are ranked sixth globally, which is one of the highest positions they’ve ever occupied. For a short while they were ranked third back in October 2020, but overall, they used to be in the top 10, around eight or ninth.

What happened at IEM Rio Major was phenomenal and left fans speechless. In turn, what the fans did, silenced the entire world and showed European audiences what it means to be a passionate supporter. Because of the atmosphere that was created at that CS:GO tournament, FURIA were invited to play at the upcoming IEM Rio.

What we know so far

At the moment, we know that IEM Rio will take place between April 17-23 in Rio de Janeiro. This time, the tournament will be a standard $250.000 event and will feature 16 of the world’s best teams.

The participants have been selected using a variety of methods. Many of them are ESL partner teams, so they got invited to join by default.

Then we have teams like FURIA, which got invited using a different set of considerations.

Heroic, Outsiders, OG, and Cloud9 will play in the competition because of their ESL World Ranking.

Then we have the regional qualifiers, which have not happened yet. A total of five teams will come to IEM Rio from those qualifiers.

What makes FURIA’s direct invite fair

The fact that FURIA were invited to play in the tournament and not some other Brazilian team makes perfect sense given how dedicated this organization was over the past three years.

A lot of teams regularly change players and it’s obvious that they don’t have a clear strategy for reaching the top. But in FURIA’s case, a lot of people committed to the long-term success of the organization and they did it a long time ago.

Most of the players on the roster have been representing FURIA since early 2018. So they have been competing together for five years! In esports, very few teams have this kind of history. In Dota 2 there are several of them but in most esports they’re practically non-existent.

Of all the Brazilian CS:GO teams, FURIA have the highest chance of winning a tournament like IEM Rio. The local fans genuinely want to see them compete, which is why the venue will probably be sold out. If that’s ESL’s primary goal, then their decision to invite FURIA was a great one.

Header: FURIA Esports