ESL have confirmed that Katowice’s iconic Spodek arena will return to the Counter-Strike fray as the host of ESL Pro League Season 24 for the playoffs of the event. The ESL Pro League Season 2024 Finals will be a three-day event, spanning from October 9-11.
The news confirms what fans had long expected. After ESL announced “that Katowice would ‘Counter-Strike is returning to Katowice & the Spodek Arena in 2026” on a Twitter/X post in July, savvy CS fans deduced that it likely meant Pro League would be hosted at the venue, as they were the only ESL events not to have an announced venue as of the date.
Paired together with the spooky imagery used in the teaser, reminiscent of Halloween, fans worked out that it was likely to be Pro League Season 24, which takes place in the month of October. Pro League’s Season 23 Finals have yet to announce their venue; however, ESL have already published their intent to make it an arena event.
IEM Katowice 2025 was the last iteration of IEM Katowice, with IEM Krakow 2026 beginning the new era of the Polish prestige event. ESL intend to maintain the flavour and legacy of IEM Katowice in Krakow, with Krakow featuring IEM Katowice mainstays such as the ‘Hall of Heroes’ and IEM Katowice’s iconic trophy.
With the news that IEM Katowice was no more, many fans who had never made the trip to the Spodek expressed regret on social media that they had never made it to the iconic venue for Counter-Strike. Now they will have the chance, albeit not at IEM Katowice but at ESL Pro League.
Marc Winther, Director of Game Ecosystems at ESL FACEIT Group said the following:
“Katowice has been the birthplace of dozens of champions, and Spodek Arena has witnessed countless iconic moments over the years – it’s where Counter-Strike truly took a massive leap. With its storied history and inimitable atmosphere, there’s no better place for our fans to enjoy the thrill of ESL Pro League live.”
Katowice confirms Pro League’s long-anticipated return to an Arena
The strategy follows the conclusion of ESL’s agreement with GamingMalta, which saw Pro League take place in a studio environment in Malta for half a decade, only briefly interrupted by Pro League XV played in Düsseldorf in 2022 where esports betting sites favourites at the time, FaZe, won the event in what would go on to be a historic year for the org.
While arena venues were considered in the intermediary for ESL Pro League playoffs, they ultimately fell through largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, solidifying Pro League as an event which had, at best, an extremely limited crowd.
Therefore, Season 23 of Pro League is expected to be the first Pro League main event played in an arena since Pro League Season 10, which took place in the Jyske Bank Arena in December 2019, with mousesports claiming the title. Katowice, however, is the first Pro League event to have confirmed its arena venue.
Katowice, however, is the first Pro League event to have confirmed its arena venue. Esports News UK has reached out to ESL to confirm whether it still intends to hold Pro League 23 at an arena venue.
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
