Esl One Cologne: A Premier Event In Esports History

ESL One Cologne is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by the Electronic Sports League. While it is considered a major tournament, it is not an official Valve-sponsored Major. The first three tournaments were sponsored by Valve, but the company has not granted that distinction since 2016. ESL One Cologne is still considered prestigious, and the event draws thousands of passionate fans. The tournament has been held annually since 2014, with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

ESL One Cologne is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament

The tournament has been held annually since 2014, with the exception of 2021, and has been described as the "Cathedral of Counter-Strike".

ESL One Cologne 2020 was won by TYLOO, who beat ViCi Gaming 3-1 in the grand final. In 2021, the tournament was hosted by the IEM and won by Russian squad Natus Vincere, who also won the ESL Pro League in 2022.

ESL One Cologne is considered an unofficial major, with a similar level of prestige to other majors but without the distinction granted by Valve since 2016.

The first three tournaments were sponsored by Valve

ESL One Cologne is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by the Electronic Sports League. The first three tournaments were sponsored by video game developer Valve. These were:

• ESL One Cologne 2014
• ESL One Cologne 2015
• ESL One Cologne 2016

ESL One Cologne 2016 was the ninth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship, held at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, from July 5-10, 2016.

In 2021, the tournament was hosted by the IEM (instead of ESL One) and the Intel Grand Slam series.

ESL One Cologne 2016 was the ninth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship

The format of the tournament consisted of four double-elimination groups (GSL format) with four teams each. The opening, elimination, and winners' matches were best-of-one, while the decider matches were best-of-three. The top two teams from each group advanced to the playoffs, which followed a single-elimination bracket format. All matches in the playoffs were best-of-three, single elimination.

The playoffs featured eight teams. Astralis, Fnatic, Gambit Gaming, Natus Vincere, SK Gaming, Team Liquid, and Virtus.pro were returning Legends, while FlipSid3 Tactics was the only new Legend. Notably, Ninjas in Pyjamas failed to retain its Legends status after eight straight majors.

The grand finals featured SK Gaming, the defending champion from the previous major at MLG Major Championship: Columbus, and Team Liquid, the first North American team to reach the grand finals at a major. SK Gaming ultimately defended its title with a 2-0 victory over Team Liquid, becoming the only non-European team to win a title until the PGL 2017 Kraków Major Championship. With this win, SK Gaming joined Fnatic as the only teams with multiple major titles at that time.

ESL One Cologne 2020 was announced as a major by Valve

ESL One Cologne is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by the Electronic Sports League. The first three tournaments were sponsored by video game developer Valve.

ESL One Cologne 2015 was the first to be officially announced as a Valve Major. The event ran from August 20th to 23rd and saw 16 of the world's best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams face off for their share of a $250,000 prize pool. The entire event was streamed live, and community funding helped to organise an additional stream to ensure that all group stages and playoff matches were broadcast. Extensive behind-the-scenes and out-of-game footage was also made available on YouTube.

ESL One Cologne 2016 was also announced as a Valve Major. It was the fifth major hosted by ESL out of a total of nine. Eight teams secured a slot in the event by achieving legendary status at the previous Major, and the challenger slots were fought for by the eight teams that didn't make it to the Columbus Major quarterfinals, as well as the eight teams that emerged victorious from the Regional Minor Championships in the European, North American, Asian and CIS regions. The offline qualifier took place in June, and only eight teams earned the chance to compete against the legends for the title.

While ESL One Cologne 2020 was not announced as a Valve Major, it was the eighth tournament to be held so far.

ESL One Cologne is considered an unofficial major

ESL One Cologne is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by the Electronic Sports League. The first three tournaments were sponsored by video game developer Valve.

The tournament has been held annually since 2014 and has been the ground for three CS Majors, bringing together the world's best teams and thousands of passionate fans.

The 2021 edition of the tournament, held under the name IEM Cologne (Intel Extreme Masters Cologne), was one of the most prestigious championships in competitive Counter-Strike. It was hosted by ESL and was part of the Intel Grand Slam series.

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