On the 5th of July ESL One is coming to Cologne in Germany for the sixth year in a row. Many CS:GO fans are super hyped about the event as they will get a firsthand view of some of the best CS:GO teams in the world battling it out in the playoffs in the majestic Lanxess-Arena.
The tournament comes with a nifty $300,000.00 prize pool and is kicking off with a group stage on the 2nd of July. Of the event’s sixteen participating teams eleven have already been invited and announced. These include all of the fiercest competitors in the professional CS:GO scene:
Joining these teams is yet another invited one which is yet to be determined
(probably Team Liquid or Team Vitality) and four teams who will earn their spot
from qualifier tournaments. These qualifiers are kicking off on the 9th of May
and consist of a European, North American and Asian one. Among the eight teams
who will fight for a spot in these the following have been confirmed:
European Qualifier: Chaos, Heroic, AVANGAR, OpTic, Team Vitality, ALTERNATE AttaX
| World rank | Nationality | Best map | Best player | |
| Astralis | 1 | Denmark | Nuke | device |
| BIG | 18 | Germany | Dust 2 | tabseN |
| ENCE | 5 | Finland | Train | allu |
| FaZe Clan | 4 | Europé | Mirage | Niko |
| Fnatic | 6 | Sweden | Inferno | flusha |
| MIBR | 7 | Brazil | Train | coldzera |
| mousesports | 12 | Europé | Mirage | oskar |
| Natus Vincere | 3 | Ukraine | Train | s1mple |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas | 9 | Sweden | Nuke | f0rest |
| NRG Esports | 8 | United States | Inferno | Ethan |
| Renegades | 10 | Australia | Nuke | jks |
North American Qualifier: ATK, Bad News Bears, FURIA, INTZ,
Asian Qualifier: Alpha Red, BTRG, EHOME, Recca
Two teams from the European Qualifier will move on to the main event, whereas one will earn a spot from the North American and Asian ones. All of the qualifiers are played over three days in a double elimination bracket with matches being best out of three, except for the finals which are best out of five.
Live streams of the matches can be found on ESL’s official twitch channel and for those who would really like to take the action to the next level CS:GO betting will also be available. Not every gambling operator will offer odds on the matches though as they are only qualifiers, but you would have to visit an eSports oriented one.
Previous winners and runner ups of
the ESL One in Cologne
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| 1st | Ninjas in Pyjamas | Fnatic | SK Gaming | SK Gaming | Natus Vincere |
| 2nd | Fnatic | Team EnVyUs | Team Liquid | Cloud9 | BIG |