IEM Road to Rio 2022: European RMR Open Qualifiers underway

The first round of the qualification phase for the next CS:GO Major in Rio de Janeiro has kicked off yesterday with open qualifiers in all competitive regions, namely Europe, America, and Asia. There are 20 slots at European RMRs up for grabs, with five at stake in the first round of open qualifiers.

Check-in for the first RMR European qualifier started yesterday afternoon. Through PGL Major Antwerp, 12 European teams have already secured a slot in one of the two regional events that lead to the IEM Rio Major 2022. Which other European teams will be able to qualify?

Road to Rio

The European qualifiers start in the Unlimited Single Elimination Bracket with best-of-one matches. This is followed by best-of-three series where teams fight for a place in the quarter-finals.

Here’s the schedule for European Open Qualifiers:

1. Open Qualifiers Europe: August 15-17
2. Open Qualifiers Europe: August 20-22
3. Open Qualifiers Europe: August 22-24
4. Open Qualifiers Europe: August 26-28

With five spots in the European RMR at stake, the quarter-final losers will compete in a decider for the spots 5 through 8 to determine who will get the RMR seeding. There will also be a decider for third place for seeding.

Each of the two RMR events in Europe will feature 16 teams in a battle for 8 spots in Rio and will take place from October 4-9. Here are the teams that already qualified for the European RMRs via PGL Major Antwerp:

Europe RMR A

• FaZe
• Cloud9
• G2
• Ninjas in pajamas
• Spirit
• Bad News Eagles

Europe RMR B

• Natus Vincere
• vitality
• ENCE
• BIG
• heroics
• Outsiders

Some of the top CS:GO teams like MOUZ, Sprout, Astralis, Fnatic, OG, Movistar Riders and Copenhagen Flames are fighting their way through the open qualifiers.

Astralis, Fnatic and CPH Flames advance to Round of 32

From the start, the first qualifying tournament was marked by technical problems. However, after they were overcome and the games went on, the favorites were able to prevail. Astralis clinched a resounding 16-3 win while Movistar Riders suffered a disappointing 9-16 loss to Infinite.

The Round of 64 saw Astralis, Fnatic, MOUZ, Entropiq, Copenhagen Flames, Sprout, and OG, among other teams, make it to the next round. While most of yesterday’s matches could be completed, some had to be postponed until today due to the aforementioned technical issues until today.

American RMR qualification

As for the American RMR qualification, Complexity and Gaimin Gladiators are among the squads that got into the quarter-finals of the first open qualifier. North American teams are currently battling for two out of 13 available American RMR spots. Thee are already taken by FURIA Esports, Imperial Esports and Team Liquid, who were directly invited.

Header: ESL