ESL revises slot distribution for its main events

Tournament operator ESL has announced changes to the qualifying process and slot distribution for its main events. The new rules apply to ESL Pro Tour tournaments in 2024.

IEM Katowice 2024:

  • Removed Affiliate Event slot (Elisa in 2023).
  • Reduced ESL World Ranking NA slots, from 2 to 1.
  • 2 additional Global ESL World Ranking invites (8 instead of 6), which came from the removal of affiliate event and 1 NA ESL World Ranking slot.

IEM Cologne 2024:

  • Replaced ESL Meisterschaft slot with German qualifier slot.
  • Reduced ESL World Ranking NA slots, from 2 to 1.
  • 1 additional Global ESL World Ranking invite (8 instead of 7), which came from the removal of affiliate event and 1 NA ESL World Ranking slot.

ESL Pro League Season 19:

  • Global ESL World Ranking slots increased from 3 to 4.
  • ESL Pro League EU Pre Qualifier Season 19 slots reduced from 2 to 1.
  • ESL Brazil Premier League Season 15 slot replaced with an increased qualifier slot for South America (2 instead of 1).

ESL Pro League Season 20:

  • Added two new regions for ECL (ESL Challenger League) slots, South America and Oceania - both have 2 qualifying slots.
  • Removed National Championship & open qualifier slots (those are replaced by new regions of ECL).
  • Removed 1 Global ESL World Ranking slot (from 4 to 3).
  • Added two Affiliate Event slots (one for EU Pre-Qualifier, one for TBD event).

IEM China 2024:

  • Replaced Local Hero Invite with Offline Qualifier.
  • Decreased EU Qualifier slots from 2 to 1 and added 1 SA Qualifier slot instead.

At the same time, ESL did not change the qualifying process and invite distribution for IEM Dallas 2024 and IEM Fall 2024, which will be held in the middle and end of next year, respectively. The start dates for qualifiers and roster locks for ESL Pro Tour events in 2024 can be found on the official website of the tournament operator.

Origin: pro.eslgaming.com