IEM Katowice 2023: Schedule, teams & how to watch – Egaxo

  ❘   Published: 2023-01-31T18:15:00

  ❘   Updated: 2023-01-31T18:31:02

The 2023 edition of IEM Katowice is just around the corner. Here is everything you need to know about the prestigious event, including the schedule, the official stream, and all the teams.

IEM Katowice is one of the biggest and most iconic tournaments on the CS:GO calendar, only rivaled by the Majors and IEM Cologne. The 2023 edition will bring elite-level Counter-Strike to the Spodek Arena, where the winner will walk away with the lion’s share of a $1 million prize purse and a ticket to IEM Cologne.

The tournament will feature 24 teams from all over the world, including 17 of the current top 20 teams in the rankings. Eight teams have been directly invited to the group stage, while the other 16 will duke it out in the Play-In stage for the final eight spots in the main tournament.

Here are all the details you need to know about IEM Katowice, including the full schedule, lineups, and prize money.

Contents

IEM Katowice 2023: Stream

IEM Katowice 2023 will be streamed live on ESL’s main and secondary Twitch channels. For the first time in many years, it will also be streamed on another platform, YouTube, following the end of the exclusivity deal with Twitch.

We’ve embedded the main stream below for your convenience.

Missed a match? Simply head over to ESL’s archive on YouTube.

IEM Katowice 2023: Schedule & results

IEM Katowice will begin with the Play-In Stage, where 16 teams will compete in a double-elimination bracket. The opening round will be played in a best-of-one format, while the remaining matches will be best-of-three series.

The top eight teams will advance to the group stage, where they will join the eight teams invited by ESL based on their world ranking. These 16 teams will be split into two GSL groups, with three teams per group advancing to the single-elimination playoffs, which will be played at the Spodek Arena. The tournament will culminate in a best-of-five grand final on February 12.

Play-In (February 1-3)

Day 1: February 1

Day 2: February 2

Day 3: February 3

Note: The winners of the matches with an asterisk will qualify for the main event.

Group Stage (February 4-7)

Day 1: February 4

Day 2: February 5

Day 3: February 6

Day 4: February 7

Playoffs (February 10-12)

Day 1: February 10

Day 2: February 11

Day 3: February 12

IEM Katowice 2023: Teams & players

IEM Katowice 2023 will feature top teams from Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. The majority of the participating teams were determined by ESL’s world ranking, with only two coming from qualifying events (Fnatic through winning Elisa Masters Espoo and Permitta by topping ESL Mistrzostwa Polski Autumn).

The Polish event will be the first opportunity to see some of the new teams in action. Those are the cases of Cloud9, who recently added Timur ‘buster’ Tulepov to their roster, and IEM Rio Major winners Outsiders, who signed 18-year-old Aleksandr ‘⁠KaiR0N-‘ Anashkin. Sprout will also attend their first LAN tournament with Romanian AWPer Adrian ‘XELLOW’ Guță, who has already played for the team in online competitions.

Stephanie Lieske for ESL

buster will play his first tournament for Cloud9

FaZe are expected to once again field their entire roster after Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard missed the BLAST Premier Spring Groups because of the birth of his child. The international team, which won IEM Katowice 2022 with Justin ‘jks’ Savage as a stand-in, is expected to provide an update before the event.

Below you can find the prize pool distribution and the final standings.