The cathedral of Counter-Strike has opened its doors once again - the IEM Cologne has started!
A CS2 major that fans of esports shouldn’t miss, a tournament gathering the greatest teams in the world, all competing for the glory and prestige, but also one seriously big prize pool.
A Million Dollar Prize Pool
It has become a tradition for major Counter-Strike tournaments to have a big prize pool, and IEM Cologne is no exception. The $1 million prize pool will be split among 24 competing teams, with the champions going home with $400,000 in their collective pocket.
Here’s the full prize pool distribution:
- 1st: $400,000
- 2nd: $180,000
- 3rd and 4th: $80,000 each
- 5th and 6th: $40,000 each
- 7th and 8th: $24,000 each
- 9th - 12th: $16,000 each
- 13th - 16th: $10,000 each
- 17th - 20th: $4,500 each
- 21st - 24th: $2,500 each
The format of IEM Cologne follows the formula of most big CS2 tournaments. It started with a Play-in, where the lower 16 teams compete to earn their spots in the Group stage. They need two wins to move on to the next stage of the tournament.
Eight teams earned a direct qualification thanks to their global standing:
- Team Vitality
- MOUZ
- Team Spirit
- Team Falcons
- The MongolZ
- Aurora Gaming
- G2 Esports
- NAVI
All matches are played as the Best of 3 maps, with the tournament following the double-elimination format (a team needs to lose twice to get knocked out). Only the final match is played as the Best of 5.
IEM Cologne Betting Offers
Big Counter-Strike tournaments like the Intel Extreme Masters are great opportunities to grab some betting bonuses and place wagers on the biggest teams of today.
Besides having real-time odds in their sportsbooks, these betting sites also offer bonuses that you can use for betting on IEM Cologne. We’ve hand-picked some bonuses you shouldn’t miss this season:
IEM Cologne Schedule and Streams
You can watch all the IEM Cologne action for free via ESL’s official YouTube and Twitch live streams. ESL provides two simultaneous streams, covering all matches that happen simultaneously, so Counter-Strike fans do not miss any of the action. There are also reruns and VODs available, in case you missed any matches.
The tournament started on 23 July with the Play-in stage, followed by the group stage from 26-29 July. Play-offs, the main event of the tournament, start on 1 August. This part of the IEM Cologne is a single-elimination tournament and, as we’ve mentioned before, the grand finals (on 3 August) are played as the best of 5, while other matches are best of 3.
Here’s the full schedule for the final weekend:
- Friday at 15:45 - Quarter Final #1
- Friday at 19:00 - Quarter Final #2
- Saturday at 15:45 - Semi Final #1
- Saturday at 19:00 - Semi Final #2
- Sunday at 17:00 - Grand Final
The organisers are planning a special announcement after the Grand Finals match, so be sure to stick around.
