Don't miss the start of ESL Pro League Season 17

Already today, February 22, ESL Pro League Season 17 will begin - one of the most iconic championships of the season and the last major event before the start of RMR tournaments. Over the next month, 32 teams from the CIS, Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Oceania will compete for a solid cash prize, as well as the opportunity to get into the race for the fourth season of the Intel Grand Slam. In this regard, we offer you to get acquainted with the format of the event, participants and other information that will be useful before the start of ESL Pro League Season 17.

Format of ESL Pro League Season 17

• Upper bracket: Eight teams start from the quarter-final stage, from where the losers are relegated to the lower bracket. The losers of the starting matches get into the first round of the lower bracket, the losers in the 1/2 final stage - into the second round of the lower bracket. In turn, the finalists guarantee a place in the playoffs (the winner of the group goes to the quarterfinals, while the loser of the final match goes to the second round of the playoffs).
• Lower Bracket: The four losing teams in the opening matches of the Upper Bracket start their journey in the first round, from where the winners advance to the second round, and the losers fall into the "Last Chance" bracket. Then the winners play with those who have taken off from the 1/2 finals of the upper bracket for the right to reach the final. The winners of the 1/2 finals of the lower bracket play the final, the winner of which advances to the first round of the playoffs with the top seed. In turn, the loser falls into the semi-finals of the "Last Chance" bracket.
• Last Chance Bracket: Participants eliminated from the first round of the lower bracket play a drop match for 8th place in the group. The winner advances to the next round, where they play the losing lower bracket finalist. At the same time, the losing participants of the 1/2 finals of the lower bracket play among themselves for a place in the final of the "Last Chance" bracket. The winners of these matches advance to the final, where they play for a slot in the first round of the bottom seeded playoffs. In turn, the losing participants are eliminated from the championship.
• Playoffs: The winners of their respective groups will still start from the quarter-final stage, while the runners-up will advance to the second round of the playoffs. In turn, the winners of the lower bracket and the "Last Chance" stage will start from the first round of the playoffs. Here, the participants will form a familiar grid with a single exception. All matches except for the Grand Final (BO5) will be played in BO3 format.

Participants and group stage draw

Group A (February 22-26):

• Outsiders, G2 Esports, fnatic, Cloud9, IHC Esports, MIBR, Eternal Fire and Evil Geniuses

Group B (March 1-5):

• Movistar Riders, Heroic, BIG, SAW, MOUZ, Imperial Esports, FURIA and Complexity Gaming

Group C (March 8-12):

• FaZe Clan, Team Vitality, Ninjas in Pajamas, OG, Grayhound Gaming, Rooster, 00NATION and paiN Gaming

Group D (March 15-19):

• Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, Team Spirit, Astralis, forZe, ATK, ENCE and Rare Atom

Latest news from the camp of the championship participants

• JACKZ replaces dupreeh as part of Vitality
• CacaNito will play for ATK as a stand-in
• hyped became a member of the BIG main roster
• Nertz became a new ENCE player, replacing valde
  

Composition of the tournament coverage studio in English:

• SPUNJ⁠, Machine⁠, Dinko⁠, ⁠HenryG, Anders, ⁠moses⁠, ⁠JustHarry⁠, ⁠Hugo⁠, LucyLuce, ⁠Jacky, Maniac⁠, ⁠Mauisnake⁠, YNk⁠, stunna⁠, ⁠Freya⁠Hecu and.
  

ESL Pro League Season 17 will take place from February 22 to March 26 in Malta. As part of the championship, 32 teams from the CIS, Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Oceania will compete for a total prize pool of $850,000, as well as tickets to IEM Cologne 2023 and BLAST World Final 2023 for the winner.

Prize pool distribution for ESL Pro League Season 17

• 1st place: $200,000 + 3,000 points + tickets to IEM Cologne 2023 and BLAST World Final 2023
• 2nd place: $90,000 + 2,000 points
• 3rd-4th place: $50,000 + 1,200 points
• 5th-8th place: $35,000 + 500 points
• 9th-12th place: $25,000
• 13th-16th place: $20,000
• 17th-20th place: $15,000
• 21st-24th place: $8,000
• 25th-28th place: $8,000
• 29th-32nd place: $4,000