ESL has unveiled the initial plans for its CS2 Pro Tour in 2025, featuring a circuit with a financial commitment exceeding $22 million over the next few years. As the CS2 pro scene transitions to a more open circuit in accordance with Valve’s regulations, tournament organizers are challenged to elevate their standards to attract the top teams to their events, especially with the return of prominent organizers like PGL and StarLadder.
Credit: ESL
ESL Pro Tour 2025 Unveiled
In a statement on its website, ESL shared its roadmap for the exciting 2025 circuit. The schedule includes the renowned ESL Pro Tour Championships, IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne, making a comeback. Despite recent speculations, ESL Pro League will continue in Season 21 and 22, along with the continuation of the Intel Grand Slam.
Check out the full ESL CS2 2025 calendar below:
- IEM Katowice 2025: January 29th – February 9th
- ESL Pro League Season 21 (Location TBD): February 25th – March 16th
- IEM Spring 2025 (Location TBD): April 21st – 27th
- IEM Dallas 2025: May 19th – 25th
- IEM Cologne 2025: July 23rd – August 3rd
- ESL Pro League Season 22 (Location TBD): September 23rd – October 12th
- IEM Chengdu 2025: November 3rd – 9th
Credit: ESL
Except for IEM Dallas 2025, all other IEM events will rely solely on Global Valve Rankings for invitations. IEM Dallas will incorporate a mix of 50% Valve Rankings invites and 50% online qualifiers worldwide. Noteworthy changes also include the elimination of best-of-one matches entirely, with all Grand Finals now being best-of-five moving forward.
It is important to highlight the absence of an ESL Major. While the CS2 Major for December 2025 has not been announced yet, the likelihood of its occurrence seems slim at this point. If not, this would mark almost four consecutive years without an ESL Major since IEM Rio Major 2022.
Details regarding the distribution of prize pools across the 2025 Pro Tour by ESL are yet to be disclosed, with more information expected to follow.
