CS:GO: ESL Confirms Pro League Season 11 Team List, Reveals Long-Term Partnership With 13 Organizations

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CS:GO: ESL Confirms Pro League Season 11 Team List, Reveals Long-Term Partnership With 13 Organizations

ESL reveals which teams will compete in Pro League’s eleventh season.


ESL has released the official list of teams competing in the upcoming eleventh season of the CS:GO Pro League. The League will feature 24 total teams, 22 of which currently sit in the top 30 of the HLTV.org World Rankings. Thirteen of the League’s participants have entered into a long-term partnership with ESL, which will reportedly last at least three years.

New Season, New Format

ESL Pro League’s eleventh season will utilize a new format. The season begins with the 24 participating teams being split into four even groups. The groups will compete in a single round-robin format over the first three weeks of the season, with the group winners advancing to the play-in stage. The second and third-placed teams are seeded into the first round of the playoffs. Afterward, the play-in will use a best-of-three single-elimination bracket, with the winners securing a spot in the semi-finals while the losers are placed in the quarter-finals. The play-offs will also use single elimination best-of-three matches, though the Grand Final will remain a best-of-five.

The Partnership Deal

All ten of the world’s current top ten teams will participate in ESL Pro League Season 11. Thirteen of Counter-Strike’s biggest brands have entered the league as part of long-term partnerships with ESL. Dubbed the “Louvre Agreement,” the deal could reportedly last up to six years.

Partnered teams have signed on as ESL Pro League stakeholders and will earn a revenue share from all ESL Pro Tour tournaments. For instance, this includes IEM Katowice and ESL One Cologne. This partnership development comes in response to competing league FLASHPOINT, which uses a similar format. Some of the bigger names not participating in ESL Pro League include MIBR, Cloud9 and Gen.G, all of whom joined FLASHPOINT as founding members.

ESL Pro League’s regular season and the first playoff rounds will be played in a studio in a yet-to-be-revealed location. In addition, the tournament will move to an arena with the start of the quarter-finals. Season 11 offers a $750,000 prize pool, a 150,000-dollar increase from the previous two seasons.

ESL Pro League Season 11 begins on March 16th, 2020.

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Caroline Rutledge
Caroline is an esports journalist focusing on CS:GO. Starting out as a casual CS:GO fan, her interest quickly turned into a passion as she spent years studying the game. She has put that knowledge to use as a journalist, now writing about professional CS:GO for multiple websites including TheGamer.