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The stage is set for one of the most anticipated Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) tournaments of the year: Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice 2025.
Taking place from January 29 – February 9, 2025, in Katowice, Poland, the tournament will feature 24 of the world’s best CS2 teams, all vying for a chance to win the lion’s share of the $1.25m prize pool, the prestigious trophy, and a coveted spot in the Hall of Heroes.
Throughout the past months, teams from around the globe have fought in numerous esports tournaments. Their performance determined their place on the Valve Regional Standings (VRS), based on which teams were invited to compete at IEM Katowice.
Imperial fe women’s team set for IEM Katowice 2025
For the first time, the ESL Pro Tour (EPT) Championship tournament IEM Katowice, will feature an all-women’s team among the qualified squads.
Imperial fe, the undefeated ESL Impact Champions, made history with their performance at the ESL Impact Season 6 Global Finals, which determined their place on the VRS (Valve Regional Standings) and earned them a chance to compete for the IEM Katowice trophy.
Their roster consists of ANa (Romania), twenty3 (Russia), tory (Russia), Kat (Slovakia), zAAz (Lebanon) and bubble (Bulgaria).
They also recently played Navi in the Blast Bounty Spring 2025 Closed Qualifier.
Imperial fe they lost 2-0 to Navi (but picked up 15 rounds, losing 13-7 and 13-8), and drew half a million viewers in the process, according to Esports Charts.
Kat also made this impressive 1v2 deagle play:
They will play Furia in Stage 1 of IEM Katowice (see below).
Update: Imperial fe’s IGL tory will be missing out on IEM Katowice due to visa issues, with the team’s coach bubble stepping in.
IEM Katowice did previously have a women’s-only Challenge tournament, but that has since been scrapped and Impact is the main women’s league in Counter-Strike today.
zAAz said the team had fun and got a lot out of it, and that they can compete against tier one teams, especially if they get the chance to practice against these kind of teams.
“To the female players out there, I would say do not give up, there is hope,” she said in the interview below.
IEM Katowice 2025 Stage 1 teams and bracket
Stage 1 will run from January 29 – 31.
The 16 qualified teams are:
- 3DMax
- Astralis
- BIG
- Complexity
- Eternal Fire
- FlyQuest
- Furia Esports
- GamerLegion
- Heroic
- Imperial fe
- MIBR
- paiN Gaming
- Saw
- Team Liquid
- Virtus.pro
- Wildcard Gaming
The bracket has also been revealed, with
IEM Katowice 2025 Stage 2 teams
This stage runs from February 1st to 4th.
The eight directly qualified teams are:
- Faze Clan
- G2 Esports
- Mouz
- Natus Vincere
- Team Falcons
- Team Spirit
- Team Vitality
- The Mongolz
IEM Katowice 2025 Playoffs
The final three days of the competition on February 7-9, 2025, will see the iconic Spodek Arena become a CS2 battleground once again.
The six best teams that qualify from Stage 2 will go head-to-head live in front of a packed audience to determine the next IEM Katowice champion.
Don’t miss the IEM Katowice 2025 watch party in London
Join a crowd of super fans and top UK gaming streamers at the UK’s Predator Live Viewing Party.
This will take place at Platform Bar, 2b Worship St, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 2AH from 4pm GMT on Sunday February 9th 2025.
Witness the world’s best Counter-Strike esports players clash in epic battles, fuel your fandom with themed activities and giveaways, and stand a chance to win exclusive Predator prizes!
Tickets to the IEM Katowice 2025 watch party are available from EventBrite here.
Dom Sacco and Darragh Harbinson will be reporting for Esports News UK from IEM Katowice on the Friday and Saturday, thanks to our partnership with Predator Gaming. So check back for plenty of IEM content over the next month, including an event preview from Darragh soon.
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.
