Instead of the winner of the major tournament, an invitation to IEM Cologne 2023 will be granted to a team from the ESL ranking
Team Vitality's victory at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 in CS:GO ensured their invitation to participate in IEM Cologne 2023. However, since they have already secured a spot in the championship due to their win at IEM Rio 2023, the place at the IEM Cologne 2023 tournament will be given to another team from the ESL rankings. This information was announced by the organizers on their official Twitter account.
Previously, it was believed that GamerLegion could receive the invitation instead of Team Vitality, as they were the finalists of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.
The BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 took place from May 8 to 21 in Paris. The tournament featured the world's top 24 teams competing for a prize pool of $1.25 million and a slot in the BLAST Premier World Final 2023. This event marked the final Major in the history of CS:GO, with a transition to the CS2 format set to take place in the future.