IEM Katowice Minors' Schedules Set for January

ESL announced the dates for its IEM Katowice Minors on Wednesday. All four minors and the minor playoffs will take place in January.

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive action will kick off at the ESL Arena in Katowice, Poland with the CIS and EU minors, scheduled to run Jan. 16-20. The Asia and Americas minors will follow Jan. 22-26. The top two teams of each minor will advance to the IEM Katowice Major Challengers Stage.

?️ The #IEM Katowice Minors are set for January! EU + CIS will get the action going before Asia and the Americas. The Minor playoff will decide the last two qualifiers for the Major in ??????!
?https://t.co/wIXSbRWxR8 pic.twitter.com/s1euSBHQr5

— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) 31 октября 2018 г.

The third-place teams from each minor will join the IEM Katowice Minor Playoffs. The top two teams at the playoffs will also advance to the Challengers Stage for a total of 10 teams qualifying through minors.

The IEM Katowice Major represents the first Major to have 10 teams qualify for the Challengers Stage through minors, two of which will replace the teams typically invited for placing 15th-16th at the previous Major.

A detailed schedule and tournament format for the minors will be released at a later date.

The IEM Katowice Major, awarded the first major of the year July 12, will also be the first Major to feature a significant crowd during the Legends Stage.