ESL confirms their list of Counter-Strike 2 tournaments for 2024. This includes the ESL Pro Tour (EPT) program which caters to aspiring, semi-professional and pro CS players across the globe.
Of course, 2024 will include a lot of the flagship ESL events that fans are used to seeing. This includes the likes of IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne. Excitingly, we will also see the first IEM in China for over 4 years. The new CS2 calendar of 2024 already looks so thrilling!
ESL Pro Tour Championships and Masters
We also have two more editions of the ESL Pro League announced. EPL will run its 19th edition in the first half of the year with Season 20 across September 2024.
- IEM Katowice 2024: January 31st – February 11th
- IEM China 2024: April 8th – April 14th
- ESL Pro League Season 19: April 23rd – May 12th
- IEM Dallas 2024: May 27th – June 2nd
- IEM Cologne 2024: August 7th – August 18th
- ESL Pro League Season 20: September 3rd – September 22nd
- IEM Fall 2024: October 7th – October 13th
Notably in April 2024 we will have IEM China. It was meant to run in 2022 but was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. Now that more of the world opens up, it is the right time to start bringing back this event. We wait patiently to find out which city this will be announced for!
One question that is also looming is where IEM Fall 2024 will take place. Recent locations to consider are Sydney and Rio. Particularly with the CS fanbase in Brazil, it does seem like a strong possibility. ESL has such a legacy that no matter where they host the Counter-Strike event, it will be thrilling.
If you are looking to attend IEM Katowice 2024 or IEM Cologne 2024, make sure to grab your tickets as soon as you can. Tickets are on sale from September 26th and 28th respectively. If there are any esports tournaments you should be attending in person, these 2 locations are some of the most legendary and historic in all of esports.
ESL Challenger Counter-Strike Tournaments
There are several ESL Challenger tournaments announced for 2024 in Counter-Strike as well.
- ESL Challenger #56: April 26th – April 28th
- ESL Challenger #57: June 14th – June 16th
- ESL Challenger Atlanta: October 4th – October 6th
- ESL Challenger #59: November 22nd – November 24th
Some of the locations are still to be revealed. For any aspiring professional CS player, these are important tournaments to participate in. For fans, these still provide amazing entertainment.
- ESL Challenger League Season 47: February – June
- ESL Challenger League Season 48: July – November
The Challenger Leagues are the format of events which are much longer. This League setup provides regular matches for teams involved. It provides a wealth of experience for players and teams looking to transition into fully professional.
Will these ESL tournaments be played on CS2?
With CS2 being on the horizon, we are expecting all ESL Counter-Strike tournaments next year to be played on it. In the early period of CS2, we expect this to shake up the ranking of teams significantly! There are likely to be a lot of surprises, with no teams yet certain of how they will perform at the highest level in CS2.
If you are looking to bet on CS2, then you should pay strong attention to how teams adapt from CSGO into CS2. A prediction from EsportsCompare.net is that we will see several shuffles of pro teams moving in the 2nd half of 2024. Another good indicator of team success if how professional traders mark the odds of the teams for each of their matchups.
