Tournament operator ESL has announced the LAN championship schedule for Counter-Strike 2 in 2025, featuring seven events.
Next year, ESL has planned five Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) tournaments, including IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne, along with two seasons of the ESL Pro League. Other IEM events will be held in Dallas and Chengdu, while the location for the third IEM tournament is yet to be confirmed, as are the venues for the ESL Pro League seasons.
ESL also revealed some updates for the upcoming tournaments. The number of participants in the ESL Pro League will be reduced from 32 to 24, with a revamped format featuring two Swiss system stages.
Qualifiers will only be held for IEM Dallas 2025 and ESL Pro League Seasons 21 & 22, while participants for the remaining tournaments will be determined based on Valve’s official ranking system.
Finally, ESL has announced plans to invest $22 million in the professional Counter-Strike 2 scene over the next two years (2025 and 2026), excluding travel and accommodation costs for the players.