Counter-Strike is returning to one of its most iconic venues on October 3 as ESL Pro League Season 24 kicks off in Katowice.
Insider Gaming has everything you need to know to enjoy ESL Pro League Season 24 as Counter-Strike once again graces the Spodek Arena at the former home of IEM Katowice.
ESL Pro League Season 24 Schedule and Format
ESL Pro League Season 24 will run the following dates:
- Event: October 3-11
- Group Stage: October 3-7
- Playoffs: October 9-11
Even though we’re in Katowice, it’s not IEM Katowice anymore. February 2025 saw the last iteration of that event, so that means the event will follow Pro League’s format.
In some ways, fans might be sad that it is no longer an IEM event, but in other ways, the format change actually benefits the fans, as the Spodek will see eight teams enter the playoffs instead of the traditional six.
Instead of GSL Groups, the event will start with a Swiss Stage, with a reduced format from the 24 teams of ESL Pro League Season 23 being cut down to 16 to allow the whole event to be played on LAN in Katowice.
Format:-
Group Stage:
- 16-team Swiss Stage
- Three series wins to advance to the playoffs
- Three series losses will result in elimination
- All matches are Best of 3
Playoffs:
- Eight-Team single-elimination bracket
- All matches are Bo3 except for Best of 5 Grand Final
- Third/Fourth-place decider before the Grand Final
ESL Pro League Season 24 teams
The 16 teams gracing Katowice with their presence for ESL Pro League Season 24 are:
- Team Spirit
- Team Vitality
- Team Falcons
- MOUZ
- 9z
- NAVI
- Legacy
- FURIA
- BetBoom
- Aurora
- G2
- Parivision
- 1w Team
- M80
- ShindeN
- TYLOO
ESL Pro League Season 24 Prize Pool
ESL Pro League Season 24 has a $1,000,000 prize pool. That $1,000,000 is largely split in favor of the organizations attending, rather than the players, as is usual for Pro League events.
Orgs will take home $700,000 of the prize pool in ‘Club Share,’ while the player prize money is the remaining $300,000.
First place at the event will bank the winners $295,000 of the prize pool; $170,000 is Club Share.
ESL Pro League Season 24 Location
ESL Pro League Season 24 sees Counter-Strike return to Katowice, a place with such great history in the Counter-Strike space.
From 1.6 LANs in Katowice’s gymnasium to Majors in the Spodek Arena, CS has a long history in Katowice.
This time, the group stage will take place in a studio LAN environment, with the playoffs returning to the Spodek.
How to watch ESL Pro League Season 24
ESL Pro League Season 24 will be streamed through ESL’s official Counter-Strike YouTube, Twitch, and Kick streams. Twitch will also utilize its B stream for Group Stage matches:
ESL Pro League Season 24 at Katowice Predictions
There’s no doubt about who to watch at the top end of this event. Team Spirit are returning to action after back-to-back tournament victories at EWC 2026 and BLAST Porto, making them the in-form team for the event.
Below them, we all want to see Team Vitality and Spirit clash again, but it’s unclear at the time whether they will play the whole event at full strength, as Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavicius will supposedly travel with the team as Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire prepares to welcome his first child.
If Vitality does play with their five-man roster, there’s little doubt that the famous golden five will be able to compete despite roster disruption. StarLadder StarSeries Season 20 victory proved they’re still the best of the rest.
As far as other contenders go, it seems that FURIA have fallen further behind, as they have failed to capitalize on their busy schedule, in which they faced weaker fields than at this event.
Fellow Brazilian roster, Legacy, will also be understrength at the event, as IGL Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan is absent due to meningitis.
So all eyes will be on Team Falcons to see if the IEM Cologne 2026 Major champions can finally win another event after that historic success. There’s no doubt that the roster has the ceiling to claim another big title, but the roster has lacked the polish to take that step this season.
For NAVI, the matter isn’t whether they’re going to win the event, that possibility seems vanishingly thin right now, but the roster desperately needs some wins at the event to shore up their ranking.
After an early exit at StarSeries, NAVI’s rank has plummeted, leaving them vulnerable to missing out on Tier 1 events and even the PGL Singapore Major if they do not win at least four matches across their next two events – Pro League and PGL Masters Bucharest.
They simply must play better after a desperately poor start to the season.
NAVI fell to Aurora and MOUZ at StarSeries, with Aurora getting their most positive result at the event since their switch to international. Finnish anchor, Jimi ‘Jimpphat’ Salo, especially shone at the event.
That uptick definitely makes them one to watch at the event, but they would likely require a drop in form from other teams to succeed; that’s also where MOUZ likely lie as they look to back up their BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 2 win.
Who do you see winning in Katowice? Share your thoughts with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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