ESL Pro League

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

In early November 2014, the German-based Electronic Sports League announced the creation of the ESL Pro League as the European ESL league. On April 28, 2015, ESL announced a joint venture with the North American-based E-Sports Entertainment Association League to provide a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league with US$500,000 in total prize money in the first season between two continents. It later expanded to fourteen teams per region and raised its prize pool to US$1,000,000, with two seasons running each year. The prize pool increased once more in 2018, with ESL making the teams fight for $1,000,000 in the Finals, raising the season prize pool by $250,000. In addition, the number of teams in the finals rose to sixteen, with more teams from regions other than North American and Europe participating in the Finals. On February 18, 2020, ESL would announce the Louvre Agreement, a revenue sharing partnership between ESL and the teams. Teams that signed on also qualified automatically for ESL Pro League as Permanent Partner Teams. The Louvre Agreement would expire at the end of 2024, as Valve, the game's developer, ended any form of partnership agreements within professional Counter-Strike in 2025. In 2020, due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, seasons 11 and 12 did not have a global final, instead regional finals were held in Europe and North America. In 2021, starting from ESL Pro League Season 13, the organization announced a changed format, with one league replacing the four regional leagues that existed prior to the pandemic. All 24 teams would travel to Europe to participate in the league, with the top 12 teams of the 24-team regular season proceeding to the playoffs. With the consolidation of the tournament into one event, the prize pool was reduced to $750,000. During ESL Pro League seasons 17 and 18, the prize pool was increased to $850,000 as a result of increasing the number of teams from 24 to 32. This was reduced back to $750,000 for seasons 19 and 20, before increasing to $1,000,000 for Seasons 21 and 22, which contracted the league back to 24 teams.

In Their Own Story

The ESL Pro League began as a venture between the Electronic Sports League (ESL) and E-Sports Entertainment Association League (ESEA), with its inaugural season starting on May 4, 2015. The league was previously based on four regions: Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania but following a format revamp in season 13, regional leagues were discontinued and unified into one league. The ESL Pro League currently comprises 24 teams each season. The ESL Pro League is considered to be the premier professional CS2 league in the world and is one of the major professional leagues in esports.

Reader's Guide

Prior to ESL Pro League Season 11, the league was split into 3 different regional leagues, Europe, Americas, and Asia-Pacific, with the top teams in each league qualifying for the season finals. However, due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, season 11 only included two leagues: Europe and North America whereas season 12 was changed to have 5 regional leagues (Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, and Asia). Starting from ESL Pro League season 13, regional leagues were discontinued with teams from each region playing together in a unified league. Teams qualified to ESL Pro League based on their permanent partner team status, ESL World Ranking, or through qualifying from regional Pro League Conference tournaments, ESL Challenger League tournaments, and ESL Challenger Tournaments. Starting from ESL Pro League Season 14, ESL announced a change to the playoffs format, removing the play-ins stage of the playoffs. Before ESL Pro League season 17, the format was as follows: Group Stage: Four single round-robin format groups, each group has six teams, all teams play each other once, all matches are Best of 3s, group 1st place teams advance to the Quarterfinals, group 2nd & 3rd place teams advance to the Round of 12. Playoffs: Single-Elimination bracket, all matches (excl. Grand Final) are Best of 3s, the Grand Final is Best of 5. Following a format revamp by ESL, which saw the removal of the round-robin format and an increase to 32 teams rather than 24 teams of the previous iterations, this ESL Pro League format, used up until 2024, was as follows: Group Stage: Four triple-elimination format groups, each group has eight teams, all matches are Best of 3s, the top four teams from each group advance to the Playoffs: group stage winners advance to the Quarterfinals, group stage runners-up advance to the Round of 12 as the High Seeds, group stage 3rd place teams advance to the Round of 16 as the High Seeds, group stage 4th place teams advance to the Round of 16 as the Low Seeds. Playoffs: Single-Elimination bracket, all matches (excl. Grand Final) are Best of 3s, the Grand Final is Best of 5. Following Valve's decision to permanently remove partnerships from the Counter-Strike esports ecosystem in 2025, the format changed once more, with the number of teams reduced back to 24 teams. The current format follows the same one used at the Majors since 2018, with

Did You Know?

• The ESL Pro League began as a venture between ESL and ESEA, with its inaugural season starting on May 4, 2015.
• The prize pool increased in 2018 with ESL making teams fight for $1,000,000 in the Finals, raising the season prize pool by $250,000.
• The Louvre Agreement, announced on February 18, 2020, was a revenue sharing partnership that would expire at the end of 2024, as Valve ended partnership agreements in 2025.
• Due to COVID-19, seasons 11 and 12 did not have a global final; instead regional finals were held in Europe and North America.