Malta to continue hosting ESL Pro League until 2024

The non-profit foundation GamingMalta and tournament organizer ESL Gaming have extended their partnership for the ESL Pro League until 2024. Starting with the upcoming Season 16, which begins on August 31, the Conference Stage and Group Stage of the ESL Pro League will be held on the Mediterranean island of Malta until Season 20.

Malta will host both the Conference Stage and Group Stage of the ESL Pro League as a result of the expanded relationship between ESL and GamingMalta. The extension deal will last through 2024 and include five ESL seasons beginning with the ESL Pro League Season 16 in 2022. The Playoff Stage of the ESL Pro League Season 16 will take place in front of a live audience at the Salini Resort from September 27th to October 2nd. Although ESL has stated that tickets will be available starting on September 5, other details have not yet been made official.

 

It will be the first Pro League season to have live attendance since the ESL Pro League Season 10, which was hosted in Denmark. The event will feature nine teams from the ESL World Rankings or ESL Pro League Conference Stage along with 15 Louvre partner teams. These teams will be divided into four groups and play in a round-robin best-of-three format before moving on to a single-elimination playoff bracket.

ESL Pro League Season 16 participant teams:

Group A

1. Natus Vincere   
2. Ninjas in Pyjamas   
3. Team Vitality  
4. Fnatic 
5. Team Spirit  
6. Endpoint

Group B

1. FaZe Clan   
2. G2 Esports 
3. BIG
4. Outsiders
5. MIBR
6. For The Win Esports

 Group C

1. ENCE  
2. Heroic 
3. Astralis  
4. MOUZ   
5. Complexity Gaming 
6. HEET

Group D

1. Cloud9 
2. Movistar Riders  
3. Team Liquid 
4. FURIA Esports  
5. Evil Geniuses 
6. Eternal Fire

ESL Pro League return to Malta 

Malta has been chosen as the host city for the ESL Pro League several times, but the plans never came to fruition due to unforeseen events, most notably the COVID-19 epidemic. The COVID-19 outbreak drove Malta to impose travel restrictions in March 2020, which forced the ESL Pro League to switch to an online-only format. All subsequent events were planned to take place in Malta through 2021, however, the plan failed again. The ESL Pro League Season 15 was also originally scheduled to take place in Malta in March 2022, but after Covid-19 derailed Malta’s plans, Düsseldorf, Germany was selected as the host city instead. 

Now that the GamingMalta foundation has secured a three-year partnership deal and there are no distinctive barriers, the Mediterranean island of Malta can finally witness the finest CS:GO action, with the ESL Pro League Season 16 event starting on August 31. The majority of the esports events staged on the Mediterranean island are amateur events, but it is believed that the partnership between ESL Gaming and GamingMalta will aid the nation in breaking into the mainstream of esports.

Header: ESL Gaming