The women’s Counter-Strike 2 ESL Impact league is returning for Season 5, and the invited teams have been revealed.
One is NiP Impact, which features UK player Mia ‘aiM’ Cooper.
Announced at the end of last year, the ESL Impact 2024 Program will feature two online league seasons, live global finals and monthly Cash Cups on Faceit.
ESL Impact was first announced in late 2021 as one of the initiatives of ESL Faceit Group’s (EFG) #GGForAll initiative, which aims to ‘tackle discrimination, promote mental well-being and progress environmental sustainability in esports’.
Commencing on March 6th 2024, 28 top women’s CS2 teams from EU, NA and SA will battle it out to secure one of eight spots at this season’s Global Finals, a chance to win the lion’s share of the $150,000 prize pool and the title.
The ESL Impact Season 5 Global Finals will take place in front of a live audience at DreamHack Dallas on May 31st to June 2nd 2024.
Tickets for the three-day immersive gaming lifestyle festival start at $89 and are available on the DreamHack Dallas website.
ESL Impact Season 5 teams list
The following teams qualified for ESL Impact Season 5 based on their performance in previous tournaments:
Update – the full finals team list has now been confirmed:
Europe:
- 1win Gang
- BIG EQUIPA
- Fearless Cheetahs – Formerly 9Pandas Fearless
- GamerLegion Prism
- NAVI Javelins
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Team Pigeons – Formerly Nigma Galaxy
- Astralis (From EU Qualifier)
- ENCE Athena (From EU Qualifier)
- Guild Esports (From EU Qualifier)
- Team Spirit Female (From EU Qualifier)
- VP.Angels (From EU Qualifier)
North America:
- FlyQuest RED
- Limitless Angels
- Shimmer
- Team Karma
- cleanup crew (From NA Qualifier)
- COVEN (From NA Qualifier)
- Nouns fe (From NA Qualifier)
- WG Bandits (From NA Qualifier)
South America:
- Atrix Esports
- Fluxo Demons
- FURIA
- MIBR
- Divina (From SA Qualifier)
- GENKID4M4 (From SA Qualifier)
- KG Network (From SA Qualifier)
- w7m Esports (From SA Qualifier)
Qualified EMEA teams include the UK’s Guild Esports, as well as ENCE Athena.
Nigma Galaxy won the most recent ESL Impact 4 finals in December 2023 following a string of first-place wins in the tournament series.
ESL Impact Season 5 prize pool breakdown
| PER LEAGUE SEASON | |
| REGION | Prize Money |
| Total | $27,000 |
| EU Region | $9,500 |
| NA Region | $7,800 |
| SA Region | $9,700 |
| FINALS PRIZE POOL | |
| PLACE | Prize Money |
| Total | $123,000 |
| 1st | $50,000 |
| 2nd | $25,000 |
| 3rd-4th | $13,000 |
| 5th-6th | $7,000 |
| 7th-8th | $4,000 |
Related content: There’s more about aiM in this interview with our friends at UKCSGO.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
