PGL announce details regarding the Europe Minor Championship, one of the qualifier tournaments for the upcoming PGL Major Kraków 2017.
PGL have released details regarding one of the four constituent tournaments of the Minor Championship circuit. The Europe Minor Championship has been announced, along with details pertaining to both the open and closed qualifiers. The LAN play-offs will feature a $50,000 prize pool, as well as three slots at the offline qualifier for the PGL Major Kraków 2017.
A total of four open qualifiers will be available, each offering 512 slots to teams exclusively from the *European region. They will be played out over the course of three days, boiling down to two victorious teams from each of the four. The eight teams will then proceed to test their luck in the closed qualifier, where they will meet more established invited teams, to see if they can surpass them. Upon the conclusion of said closed qualifier, eight teams will emerge to secure placements at the PGL Europe Minor. The organisers have outlined that there will be no direct invites to the LAN play-off, this means that all teams will have to endure the test of the qualifiers.
All information regarding the open qualifiers may be found below:
European Open Qualifier #1 - Thursday, April 27th - Saturday, April 29th
512 slots
Single-elimination, best-of-one till round of eight, then all matches best-of-three
Top two teams advance to closed qualifier
Registration link
European Open Qualifier #2 - Wednesday, May 3rd - Friday, May 5th
512 slots
Single-elimination, best-of-one till round of eight, then all matches best-of-three
Top two teams advance to closed qualifier
Registration link
European Open Qualifier #3 - Monday, May 8th - Wednesday, May 10th
512 slots
Single-elimination, best-of-one till round of eight, then all matches best-of-three
Top two teams advance to closed qualifier
Registration link
European Open Qualifier #4 - Monday, May 15th - Wednesday, May 17th
512 slots
Single-elimination, best-of-one till round of eight, then all matches best-of-three
Top two teams advance to closed qualifier
Registration link
Scheduling for the three day qualifiers will follow the format below (times expressed in CEST):
Day One - BO1
19:00 - All matches from round of 512 to round of 128
Day Two - BO1
19:00 - All matches from round of 64 to round of 16
Day Three - BO3
14:00 - Round of eight and round of four
Following the conclusion of the four open qualifiers, eight teams will emerge to continue their journey towards the PGL Europe Minor. Said teams will face eight invited opponents in the closed qualifier for the tournament, the details of which are outlined below:
European Closed Qualifier - Saturday, May 20th - Sunday, May 21st
Sixteen teams (eight from open qualifier, eight invited)
Swiss format, best-of-one
Top eight teams advance to PGL Europe Minor
Below is a table containing teams that have received direct invites to the closed qualifier:
 BIG |  Team Kinguin |
 Team EnVyUs |  Team LDLC |
 Epsilon eSports | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
 Heroic |  Space Soldiers |
Following the conclusion of the closed qualifier, eight teams will meet in Bucharest, Romania to participate in the LAN play-offs of the PGL Europe Minor Championship, where a $50,000 prize pool will be up for grabs, as well as three slots for the PGL Major Kraków 2017 offline qualifier.
PGL Europe Minor Championship - Thursday, June 15th - Sunday, June 18th
Eight teams, all from closed qualifier
Format TBA
Top three teams secure placements in offline qualifier for PGL Major Kraków 2017
All of the above matches will be broadcast on PGL's Twitch.tv channel.
*The following European countries are eligible for participation: Andorra, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Åland Islands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Faroe Islands, France, United Kingdom, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Isle of Man, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, Macedonia, Republic of Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Slovenia, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Slovakia, San Marino, Turkey, Vatican.
Images courtesy of PGL
