ESL ONE Cologne 2015 confirmed by Valve as CS:GO Major Championship

The next large Counter-Strike event in Cologne has now officially been announced as the next Valve Major.

The next large CS:GO Major Championship is only three months away, where hundreds of thousands of fans will watch as the top teams in the world battle it out for a piece of the quater of a million dollars on offer. From August 20-23, one of the largest Counter-Strike events in history will take place in the LANXESS arena, Cologne, Germany. It will be organized by the largest eSports company in the world, ESL, with a grand total of $250,000 in prizes.

Sixteen teams will be playing in the second biggest multifunctional arena in Europe and largest indoor arena in Germany. The top eight teams from ESL ONE Katowice earlier this year will be invited to this major, followed by the best teams from Asia, Europe and North America.

The CS:GO Major Championship will also feature for the first time offline qualifiers for each participating continent. All regional qualifiers will be available to watch live on Twitch.

Regional qualifiers:
Asia:
8 teams attending on July 18-19 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Europe:
16 teams attending on July 25-26 in Cologne, Germany
North America:
8 teams attending on August 1-2 in Burbank, U.S.A.

The qualified 32 teams will attend the offline group stage which will take place in the ESL studios in Cologne on August 20-21. The best eight teams will be qualified for the playoffs from August 22-23 in the LANXESS arena.

With support from Valve, not only the regional qualifiers, but also all group stage matches and playoff matches will be streamed. Apart from livestreaming, the whole main event in Cologne can also be watched in-client via GOTV. Available on YouTube will be an overall video coverage throughout the event, including behind-the-scenes footage with players and Counter-Strike personalities. Thanks to the global ESPORTS IN CINEMAS project, those who are unable to attend in Cologne could get a feeling the atmosphere in a participating movie theatre.

There are still tickets for the event on sale, in a price range from €41 for the weekend to €219 for Premium ticket, including exclusive signing sessions with the world’s best CS:GO players. They also have  announced a ESL ONE Cologne 2015 Pick’Em Challenge, where the ESL ONE Cologne team stickers will be functioning as game piece for it.

The aim to bring esports even into movie theatres around the world shows us that the hosts are trying everything to expand not only their event, but also to break the audience records which were set during ESL ONE Katowice.

Ulrich Schulze, Managing Director of Pro Gaming at ESL:

After CS:GO surpassed one million concurrent viewers at ESL One Katowice, we now intend to raise the bar even higher with ESL One Cologne.By bringing teams from all over the world to the largest indoor arena in Germany, we are confident to make it the biggest and best CS:GO event ever hosted.”

Headline image by Kelly Kline and ESL.

Source: official site