ESL has introduced the four groups for the $850,000 ESL Pro League season 17 on Jan. 27. Thirty-two CS:GO teams will attend the competition and each group will feature eight squads.
The group stage of ESL Pro League season 17 is different than ESL’s previous round-robin format. The tournament organizer will use the triple-elimination format for each group and the top four teams in each group will advance to the playoffs. The group winners move straight to the quarterfinals, the runners-up move to the round of 12, while the third and fourth-place squads advance to the round of 16 as a high seed and low seed, respectively.
As for the playoffs, ESL has kept the single-elimination bracket format. All matches of the tournament will be best-of-threes, aside from the grand final on March 26, which will be a best-of-five.
Here are every group of ESL Pro League season 17 and the schedule for the tournament.
ESL Pro League season 17 groups
Group A
- G2 Esports
- Outsiders
- Fnatic
- Cloud9
- Eternal Fire
- Evil Geniuses
- MIBR
- IHC
Group B
- Heroic
- FURIA
- MOUZ
- BIG
- Movistar Riders
- Imperial
- Complexity
- SAW
Group C
- FaZe Clan
- Vitality
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- OG
- 00 Nation
- PaiN Gaming
- Grayhound
- Rooster
Group D
- Natus Vincere
- Team Liquid
- ENCE
- Astralis
- ForZe
- Team Spirit
- Rare Atom
- ATK
ESL Pro League season 17 schedule
Every group of ESL Pro League season 17 will be played separately. This means that Group B only starts after Group A is over, for example. The initial matchups are set and so are the days, but the exact time of the matches has not been revealed yet. We’ll update this section when more details are revealed.
Wednesday, Feb. 22
- Outsiders vs. IHC
- MIBR vs. Fnatic
- C9 vs. EG
- G2 vs. Eternal Fire
Wednesday, March 1
- Heroic vs. Movistar Riders
- BIG vs. Complexity
- FURIA vs. Imperial
- MOUZ vs. SAW
Wednesday, March 8
- FaZe vs. Rooster
- NiP vs. paiN
- OG vs. 00 Nation
- Vitality vs. Grayhound
Wednesday, March 15
- Liquid vs. Rare Atom
- ENCE vs. ATK
- Spirit vs. Astralis
- NAVI vs. forZe