The sixteen teams will be competing to take home part of the $250,000 prize pool in one of the most well-known tournaments in CS:GO.
ESL officially announced the Round One matches for ESL One Cologne 2017, which will take place July 7-9. These preliminary matches will take place July 4 and will decide who will make it to the LAN playoffs in Cologne, Germany. There will be two streams running live for these first matches. Seeding was decided via CS:GO Global Ranking standings. The Group Stages will be played under the Swiss System rules.
The schedule for the first matches of ESL One Cologne 2017 are:
Main Stream
12:00 CEST / 06:00 EDT - 
mousesports vs. 
Fnatic
13:15 CEST / 07:15 EDT - 
Immortals vs. 
Virtus.pro
14:30 CEST / 08:30 EDT - Ninjas in Pyjamas vs.
Cloud9
15:45 CEST / 09:45 EDT - 
Natus Vincere vs. Team Liquid
B-Stream
12:00 CEST / 06:00 EDT - FaZe Clan vs. 
13:15 CEST / 07:15 EDT - [f]Brazil.gif" align='absmiddle' title="[Denmark/f] Heroic
13:15 CEST / 07:15 EDT - [f]Brazil" alt="[Denmark/f] Heroic
13:15 CEST / 07:15 EDT - [f]Brazil" border="0" /> SK Gaming vs. 
Space Soldiers
14:30 CEST / 08:30 EDT - 
TyLoo vs. 
G2 Esports
15:45 CEST / 09:45 EDT - 
North vs. OpTic Gaming
When the dust settles on July 9, only one team will be able to claim the title of Grand Champion and have a head start in the Intel Grand Slam challenge. If the champions can claim victory on three other qualifying Premiers, then that team will take home a $1,000,000 bonus along with all previous tournament earnings.
The competition doesn’t stop in the arena, however; after the tournament, Virtus.Pro and SK Gaming will face off in a football (or, for you Americans, soccer) match at RheinEnergieSTADION, the home of FC Köln. The game will take place on Monday, July 10 at 19:00 CEST, and those with Premium or Plus tickets to ESL One Cologne will be granted free admission to the pitch.
Image courtesy of ESL
