ESL Pro League features format changes for return to Katowice

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 28/11/2025

ESL FACEIT Group have announced format changes to ESL Pro League Season 24, allowing the full event to take place in Katowice on LAN.

Subsequently, the number of teams attending the event has been reduced to 16 from 24.

ESL Pro League Season 24 will take place in Katowice, starting on October 3 and ending on October 11.

What to expect from ESL Pro League Season 24 in Katowice

The tournament sees ESL return to Katowice, and its iconic Spodek Arena, making it the first Pro League since 2019 to feature arena playoffs.

The announcement came after the news that ESL’s traditional event, IEM Katowice, would become IEM Krakow in 2026.

As opposed to ESL’s recent Pro League events, which have seen Stages 1 and 2 of Pro League take place as online qualifiers, the entirety of ESL Pro League Season 24 will take place in Katowice, Poland.

As ESL wanted to maintain the heritage and flavour of IEM Katowice for its new venue, fans should not expect the return of the ‘Hall of Heroes’ in Katowice.

Instead, the Krakow event will feature the Hall of Heroes, a LAN setup which celebrates past champions of IEM Katowice in its decorations and flavouring.

At Pro League Season 24, the top eight teams will qualify from a single all-Bo3 Swiss Stage directly to an eight-team, single-elimination playoff bracket.

The playoff bracket will take place over three days from October 9-11, making the Friday a bumper day featuring four Best of 3s for the Katowice audience to enjoy.

The Grand Final will be a Best of 5 contest, in keeping with ESL Pro League’s established format.

As a result of the changes, ESL Pro League Season 24 will only take up two weeks of the calendar, instead of the three weeks which Pro League Season 23 will take.

ESL Pro League Season 24 Prize pool, invite details, dates

Prize pool: $300,000 + $700,000 Club Share

First place: $125,000 + $170,000 Club Share

Dates:

Group Stage: October 3-7

Playoffs: October 9-11

Invite parameters:

Global Invite VRS 1-12 + Winners of regional winners of ESL Challenger League S51 (Europe, North America, South America, and Asia)

As a result of the invites, ESL Pro League Season 24 is a Tier 1 Wildcard event in the VRS.

ESL emphasised in their statement that the format changes only applied to Pro League Season 24, stating:

“These changes only relate to Season 24 for now, we will continue to explore options for future seasons of ESL Pro League.

This includes gathering community feedback, interfacing with participating teams and players, and ultimately what makes for an exciting competition in the end.”

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

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.

All Posts By Darragh Harbinson