ESL announces CS2 tournaments in Brazil, USA, and China

Tournament operator ESL has announced three new Counter-Strike 2 tournaments from the IEM series, scheduled for 2026.

The events will be held in Brazil (April 13-19, 2026), the USA (May 11-17), and China (November 2-8). Invites will be issued in January, February, and August, respectively. The exact cities where the events will be hosted are still unknown.

Note that at all three competitions, the organizers will hold matches for third place. The total prize pool for each of the announced events will be one million US dollars (with the lion's share of the amount going to clubs, not players).

ESL also revealed new global qualifiers, which will play out in Europe in an online format. 12 squads will be invited to the qualifiers based on Valve's ranking, with another four rosters advancing through open qualifiers.

Origin: x.com