ESL will host a LAN event in December featuring $500,000 prize pool

The IEM Global Challenge 2020 will be the debut LAN event after the professional stage goes offline. ESL will host a tournament in Cologne from 15 to 20 December.

The eight best teams from Europe and North America will take part in the championship and compete for a total prize pool of $500,000. The competition is planned to run in a studio format with no spectators present. At the moment, the participants are not yet announced.

The IEM Global Challenge 2020 is set to bring CS:GO and it's players back to a LAN* environment across 15th - 20th of December! With 8 top teams being directly invited to compete live in Cologne, Germany. The prize money for this tournament comes from the $500,000 ESL One Cologne prize purse deferral which was previously planned for redistribution for tournaments in 2021. 

The organizers noted that a return to the LAN format will only be possible if the global epidemiological situation does not deteriorate. Recall that the last major LAN event this year was IEM Katowice 2020, which took place from February 24 to March 1.

Before the IEM Global Challenge 2020, ESL will organize IEM Beijing-Haidan 2020 online. This tournament will take the place of the canceled major and will be held from 6 to 22 November.