ESL Pro League Season 24 begins on October 3 in Katowice with 16 teams competing for a $1 million prize pool and eight places in the playoffs.
Spirit enters as the top seed, followed by Vitality, Falcons and MOUZ. The field also includes FURIA, G2, NAVI, Legacy, Aurora and several teams that qualified through ESL Challenger League.
The tournament runs from October 3-11, with the final playoff weekend scheduled for the Spodek Arena.
ESL Pro League Season 24 at a glance
- Dates: October 3-11, 2026
- Location: Katowice, Poland
- Teams: 16
- Prize pool: $1,000,000
- Group stage: Swiss system
- Group-stage series: Best-of-three
- Teams advancing: Eight
- Playoffs: Single elimination
- Grand final: Best-of-five
- Playoff venue: Spodek Arena
Follow the latest CS2 matches, scores and streams on Frag throughout the event.
All 16 ESL Pro League Season 24 teams
The complete field is:
- Spirit
- Vitality
- Falcons
- MOUZ
- Legacy
- FURIA
- Aurora
- G2
- Natus Vincere
- 9z
- BETBOOM
- PARIVISION
- M80
- TYLOO
- 1win
- ShindeN
The lineup brings together most of the highest-ranked teams in Counter-Strike with regional qualifiers from Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and South America.
ESL Pro League Season 24 seeding
ESL used peer voting to determine the Season 24 seed order.
Each of the 16 teams ranked the other participants, with the final order based on the average after outlier votes were removed.
The confirmed seeds are:
- 1 – Spirit
- 2 – Vitality
- 3 – Falcons
- 4 – MOUZ
- 5 – Legacy
- 6 – FURIA
- 7 – Aurora
- 8 – G2
- 9 – Natus Vincere
- 10 – 9z
- 11 – BETBOOM
- 12 – PARIVISION
- 13 – M80
- 14 – TYLOO
- 15 – 1win
- 16 – ShindeN
That order determines the opening round, with the highest seed facing the lowest seed and the pairings moving inward.
Opening ESL Pro League Season 24 matches
The first Swiss round is:
- Spirit vs ShindeN
- Vitality vs 1win
- Falcons vs TYLOO
- MOUZ vs M80
- Legacy vs PARIVISION
- FURIA vs BETBOOM
- Aurora vs 9z
- G2 vs Natus Vincere
Every opening match is a best-of-three.
From there, teams move through the Swiss system based on their records until eight teams qualify for the playoff bracket and eight are eliminated.
Spirit starts as the number one seed
Spirit holds the top seed going into Katowice.
That gives the team an opening match against ShindeN, the 16th seed and the South American qualifier.
Spirit enters the event after winning BLAST Open Porto earlier in September. Frag covered the final when Spirit beat MOUZ 3-1 to win BLAST Open Porto 2026.
The roster also remains one of the strongest individual lineups in the field, led by donk and sh1ro.
Vitality gets the number two seed
Vitality is seeded second and opens against 1win.
The European team moved above several rivals in the peer-ranking process after its recent results, giving it the second-highest position in the Swiss draw.
Vitality’s side of the opening round is separate from Spirit, but the Swiss format means later matchups will depend on results rather than a fixed bracket.
Falcons and MOUZ complete the top four
Falcons enters as the third seed and faces TYLOO.
MOUZ is fourth and opens against M80.
Both teams are part of the group expected to compete deep into the event based on their current positions in the international rankings and their recent tournament results.
MOUZ also arrives after finishing runner-up to Spirit at BLAST Open Porto.
G2 vs NAVI is the opening-round headline
The eighth and ninth seeds create the closest matchup on paper in the first round: G2 vs Natus Vincere.
G2 recently finished second at FISSURE Playground 3, losing the final to Legacy after a strong playoff run.
NAVI sits just outside the top half of the EPL seeding and gets no easy start as a result.
Because the Swiss stage pairs teams again based on record after the opener, winning this first series can have a major effect on the route to the eight-team playoffs.
Legacy enters with a stand-in
Legacy is seeded fifth but will not play the event with its usual full lineup.
The organization announced that in-game leader arT will miss ESL Pro League Season 24 while receiving medical care for meningitis. Legacy said he is expected to remain sidelined for at least 10 days.
Pedro “bobz” Rocha will stand in for the event.
That change comes after a strong stretch for Legacy, including third place at the Esports World Cup and the FISSURE Playground 3 title.
Legacy opens against PARIVISION.
How the Swiss stage works
All 16 teams begin in one Swiss group.
Teams with the same or similar records are paired as the tournament progresses. A team advances after reaching the required winning record, while teams that accumulate enough losses are eliminated.
The structure reduces the impact of one early upset because every team gets multiple series before its tournament run ends.
Eight teams will survive the Swiss phase.
ESL Pro League Season 24 playoff format
The playoffs switch to a single-elimination bracket.
Most playoff series are best-of-three. The tournament also includes a best-of-three third-place match, while the grand final expands to best-of-five.
The playoff stage is scheduled for October 9-11 at the Spodek Arena in Katowice.
Prize money
The total prize pool is $1 million.
The listed event distribution includes $125,000 for first place and $50,000 for second, with additional prize money spread across the remaining placements.
ESL also separates the event’s player and club shares as part of the broader prize structure.
What to watch at EPL Season 24
Several early storylines stand out.
Spirit starts from the number one seed after another title-winning run in Porto.
Vitality enters second after the peer-voted seeding moved it up the order.
Legacy has recent championship form but must adapt to a stand-in.
G2 and NAVI meet immediately in the most evenly seeded opening matchup.
And the Swiss format leaves room for qualified teams such as M80, TYLOO, 1win and ShindeN to change the shape of the event with an early upset.
How to follow ESL Pro League Season 24 on Frag
Frag will track ESL Pro League Season 24 through the CS2 match section, including schedules, live scores and available streams.
The event begins October 3 and runs through the October 11 grand final in Katowice.