The IEM Katowice 2022 will start on 15 February. The world’s best teams will compete in CS:GO. The Grand Final will be broadcast by ProSieben FUN.
The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice are already in the starting blocks. In the Polish city, 24 professional teams will battle it out in CS:GO for the coveted victory of the top event. All information about the IEM Katowice 2022 and where German fans can follow the finals can be found here.
The traditionally strong tournament IEM Katowice starts on 15 February and delivers exciting matches in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive until the end of the month. The world’s best teams of the shooter will compete against each other in the Spodek Arena and prepare themselves under pressure for the Major Event in Belgium, which starts in May. The entire event will take place on site as a LAN event and offers total prize money of one million US dollars. Spectators are allowed in the arena to cheer on their favourite team during the matches or simply to enjoy the atmosphere.
ProSieben FUN will broadcast the IEM Katowice 2022
However, the German audience does not have to be on site to be able to experience the mega event. (ProSieben FUN) will broadcast the tournament on 27 February from 16:30. This would allow CS:GO fans to watch their favourite at the Grand Final from the comfort of their sofa in the highest quality.
The first major CS:GO tournament in 2022! 😮 It’s all about $1,000,000 prize money again! The IEM Katowice live on ProSieben FUN – on 27 February! pic.twitter.com/age8eKZbWk
– ProSieben FUN (@ProSiebenFUN) January 31, 2022
The IEM Katowice 2022 will last just under two weeks. It will start with the play-in phase, in which the eight teams still open will qualify for the group phase. In total, only 16 teams will advance to the next round at the IEM Katowice 2022. Those who survive the group stage will then fight for the prestigious title in the play-offs. The Grand Final on 27 February will determine the winner of the mega-event.
- Play-In from 15 to 16 February
- Group stage from 17 to 20 February
- Playoffs from 25 to 27 February
In the play-ins, the teams will compete in a best-of-one at the beginning and then in a best-of-three in the next matches. The best eight teams of the play-ins will meet the remaining eight teams that have already qualified in advance in the group stage. In the best-of-three matches, they fight for a coveted place in the play-offs.
Which teams will have to face each other in the play-ins has also been announced by now. The four winners as well as the four groups from the lower brackets will advance to the group stage. The German team BIG will first meet Complexity in the play-ins. Afterwards, the Berliners, who are currently in good form, could play either Astralis or MIBR. The other German organisation Sprout, on the other hand, will meet the resurgent FaZe Clan in the opener and could face GODSENT or MOUZ in the event of a win.
Let’s take a first look at the play-in stage bracket for IEM Katowice 👀
🏄♂️ All teams on LAN
☠ Double-elimination bracket
🏆 Win 2 matches to advance to group stage
🔼 8 teams advance to group stage
📅 February 15th and 16th
📺 A, B and C streams for day 1, live at 11AM CET pic.twitter.com/DulmvrGt26– 5 DAYS TIL IEM KATOWICE 2022 (@ESLCS) February 8, 2022
The tournament proper gets underway on 17 February. In two double elimination brackets, the three best teams qualify for the final knockout round. The respective winners of their groups are seeded directly for the semi-finals.
In the play-offs, the best six teams compete against each other. The quarter-finals and semi-finals will both be decided by a best-of-three match, whereas the Grand Final will be decided by a best-of-five. The winning team of the IEM Katowice 2022 can look forward to prize money of 400,000 US dollars.
These teams are fighting for victory
A total of 24 teams will demonstrate their skills on site at the IEM Katowice 2022. Among them is also the best German team BIG. Already in the group phase of the BLAST Premier: Spring 2022, the line-up around Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz was able to beat Astralis and entered the Spring Finals. In the play-in, BIG still has to secure one of the remaining eight places. There, the German team will again have to assert itself against the likes of Ninjas in Pyjamas and Astralis.
Already qualified for the IEM Katowice 2022:
- Natus Vincere
- Gambit Esports
- G2 Esports
- Team Vitality
- Heroic
- Virtus.pro
- FURIA Esports
- Team Liquid
Play-In Teams of the IEM Katowice 2022:
- Ninjas in pyjamas
- Astralis
- FaZe Clan
- GODSENT
- Complexity
- MIBR
- Renegades
- BIG
- Entropiq
- OG
- CPH Flames
- Fnatic
- ENCE
- MOUZ
- Wisla Kraków
- Sprout
An update on IEM Katowice CS:GO: @tyloogaming have withdrawn due to restrictions around COVID19.
Based on the replacement rules and current ESLWorldRanking standings, @sproutGG will be replacing them in the play-in stage starting Tuesday, February 15th. pic.twitter.com/K5KselMWAJ
– Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) February 4, 2022
Sprout moved up late on 4 February. TYLOO had actually qualified for the IEM Katowice 2022. However, the Chinese team had to withdraw from the competition due to restriction with the Covid 19 pandemic. In addition, Team Spirit and forZe had visa problems when the invitations for the event were sent out, which meant that Sprout was the last team to slip into the field of participants.
