Astralis, fnatic, Natus Vincere invited to ESL One Cologne 2020

 Tournament operator ESL has published a selection system and a list of invited teams for ESL One Cologne 2020. The top eight teams in the ESL Pro Tour rankings are Astralis, fnatic, Natus Vincere, G2, mousesports, FaZe, Liquid and 100 Thieves.

The ESL Pro Tour rating is based on the performance at ESL Pro League S11, ESL One: Road to Rio and DreamHack Masters Spring. These tournaments took place this spring in online format with division into several regions. Tours to Cologne received six of the best teams from Europe and two more from North America.

The eight best teams from the Play-In stage, in which sixteen participants will compete, will join the owners of direct invites. Ten of them are already known: Vitality, Ninjas in Pyjamas, BIG, Evil Geniuses, FURIA, Cloud9, Renegades, TYLOO, Sprout and Heretics. Focusing on its own rating, ESL will invite four more European and two American teams to this stage.

List of invited teams for ESL One Cologne 2020:

 Astralis (1 place European EPT-ranking)
 fnatic (2 place European EPT-ranking)
 Natus Vincere (3 place European EPT-ranking)
 G2 (4 place European EPT-ranking)
 mousesports (5 place European EPT-ranking)
 FaZe (6 place European EPT-ranking)
 Liquid (1 place in North American EPT-ranking)
 100 Thieves (2 place in North American EPT-ranking)

List of invited commands on ESL One Cologne 2020 - Play-In:

 Vitality (7 place European EPT-ranking)
 NiP (8 place European EPT-ranking)
 BIG (9 place European EPT-ranking)
 Evil Geniuses (3 place in North America)
 FURIA (4 place in North American EPT-ranking)
 Cloud9 (5 place in North American EPT-ranking)
 Renegades (1 place Asian EPT-ranking)
 TYLOO (1 place в EPT-ranking)
 Sprout (winner ESL European Championship 2020)
 Heretics (winner ESL Meisterschaft Spring 2020)

ESL One Cologne 2020 with a prize fund of $1,000,000 wil lrun  from 21 to 30 August. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the format of the tournament is unknown - ESL has only assured that there will be no spectators in the stands in Cologne. If the epidemiological situation and quarantine rules in Germany allow teams from all over the world to gather in one place, they will play in the studio format.