ESL One to Host First-Ever CS:GO Major in Rio, Brazil

The World’s Best CS:GO Teams Will Compete at Rio’s Jeunesse Arena

ESL, the world’s largest esports company, today announced that it will bring ESL One powered by Intel® to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, as part of the new ESL Pro Tour. The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) tournament has been officially designated as a Major Championship by Valve Corporation, making it the first-ever CS:GO Major held in Brazil. Following a month-long race to the top, the playoffs of ESL One Rio will be held at the Jeunesse Arena from May 21-24, 2020, where the world’s top eight CS:GO teams from Europe, Americas, Asia-Pacific and CIS will battle for the US$1Million prize pool as well as a point toward the Intel® Grand Slam. 

“We are extremely excited and proud to host the next Major in Brazil,” said Ulrich Schulze, Senior Vice President Product at ESL. “Our aim is to bring pure esports moments to the most passionate fans around the world and reward them by creating a unique experience on all levels. With teams from all over the world having a chance to qualify and making their way to the final, we expect the matches to be incredible and the crowd to be the loudest we have ever seen.”

“Intel is excited to bring to Brazil this important ESL championship. The gaming and esports market has grown exponentially in the past years not only in Brazil, but also around the world, and we continue our mission to invest and develop leading gaming products focused on this market,” said Carlos Augusto Buarque, Marketing Director of Intel Brazil.

ESL One Rio provides an unparalleled opportunity for the Brazilian community to get closer to the world elite of CS:GO players. By bringing a Major to one of the largest CS:GO fanbases in the world, ESL, Intel and Valve will deliver a full month of top tier esports competition to fans in Brazil:

  • April 26 –  May 3: The Minors will feature a total of 32 teams, with 8 teams per region (EU, Americas, Asia and CIS) determined through online qualifiers. Each Minor will determine the two best teams per region, narrowing the field to eight teams that will proceed directly to the Challenger Stage.  Third place teams from every region will compete in a Play-In for another two spots in the Challenger Stage.
  • May 11 – May 14: The Challenger Stage will feature 16 teams in total: ten teams from the Minors and six invited teams ranked 9 through 14 at the Berlin Major. 
  • May 16 – May 19: The Legends Stage will give eight teams that made it through the Challenger stage and the top-tier elite CS:GO teams ranked 1-8 at the CS:GO Major in Berlin a shot to get one step closer to winning the lion’s share of US$1 million.
  • May 21- May 24: Eight teams that made it through the Legends Stage will face each other in the play-offs at the Champions Stage, which will take place at the Jeunesse Arena. The play-offs will be played in a best of three single-elimination mode, culminating in the Grand Final on May 24 on Jeunesse’s main stage.

ESL One Rio will be a Championship category tournament in the ESL Pro Tour and will offer its winner a chance to complete the Intel Grand Slam. Any team that wins any six ESL Pro Tour Masters tournaments or four Masters tournaments including one or more Major or Masters Championship event (IEM Katowice or ESL One Cologne) inside a span of ten events will win the Intel Grand Slam prize of US$1,000,000.

The tournament will be ESL’s 7th CS:GO Major since ESL One Katowice 2014 and its 3rd tournament in Brazil after ESL Pro League Season 4 in São Paulo in 2016 and ESL One Belo Horizonte in 2018.  The previous ones were among the fastest selling events in the company’s history. Last year’s ESL One attracted over 11,000 passionate attendees on each of the three tournament days and reached a peak concurrent viewership with over 583,000 viewers. More than 7.5 million hours of content were consumed by the online audience in total.

Tickets will go on sale on Thursday, December 12th at 4PM CET / 12PM BRT and range in price between R$320 for a premium ticket in the first ticket wave and R$50 for a Thursday / Friday ticket.

More details on tournaments and game titles will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information, please visit the official website and follow ESL CS:GO on Twitter and Facebook.

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ESL is the world’s largest esports company. Founded in 2000, ESL has been shaping the industry across the most popular video games with numerous online and offline esports competitions. The company operates high profile, branded international leagues and tournaments under the ESL Pro Tour including ESL One, Intel® Extreme Masters, ESL Pro League, and other premier stadium-size tournaments, to more clearly define the path from zero to hero. ESL also produces the ESL National Championships, grassroots amateur cups, and matchmaking systems, creating a world where everybody can be somebody. With offices all over the world, ESL is leading esports innovation on a global scale through the combination of global ESL competitions, amateur leagues, publisher activations, and more. ESL is a part of MTG, the leading international digital entertainment group. eslfaceitgroup.com

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