CS:GO teams will be heading to Germany in a bid to claim the prestigious Cologne crown, a slice of the $300,000 prize pool and a notch on the IEM Grand Slam.
While the annual Cologne event may not be one of Valve’s official Major event, the ever-raucous crowd certainly makes it feel like one and with the line-up of teams promising an explosive event, this year should be no different.
So, here’s what you need to know about ESL One Cologne 2019.
How to watch ESL One Cologne 2019
Whether you’re making the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Counter-Strike or watching from home, ESL will have every angle covered.
There are still a few general weekend and single-day tickets available on the ESL website at the time of writing, but if you aren’t quick enough to get there, it’s easy to kick back with your feet up and watch the action from wherever you are.
With group stage games running in tandem, you’ll have to have more than one Twitch stream open if you don’t want to miss a moment any of the matches, but we’ve got both embedded here for your convenience. Additional language broadcasts will, of course, be available too.
Stream A
What is the format?
The teams will play a best-of-one group game to open the tournament, with the following games being played as best-of-three maps. These opening matchups have already been decided and can be found below.
After that, the top three teams will move into the playoffs where they will then play a best-of-three series in the quarter and semi-finals. Group winners will advance to the semi-finals, second-placed teams in the quarter-finals as high seeds, and third-place teams as a low seed.
The Grand Finals, which take place on Sunday July 7, will be a best-of-five series to decide the overall winner of ESL One Cologne 2019.
What are the groups?
The groups for the event were unveiled on June 28 with Group A largely dominated by North American teams and Group B playing host to some of Europe’s best.
The groups are as follows:
ESL One Cologne 2019 Group A
| Team | Region |
|---|---|
| Team Liquid | North America |
| Natus Vincere | CIS |
| FaZe | Europe |
| FURIA | North America |
| NRG | North America |
| Renegades | North America |
| mousesports | Europe |
| MVP PK | Asia |
ESL One Cologne 2019 Group B
| Team | Region |
|---|---|
| Astralis | Europe |
| MIBR | North America |
| Team Vitality | Europe |
| ENCE | Europe |
| Heroic | Europe |
| NiP | Europe |
| Fnatic | Europe |
| BIG | Europe |
What is the schedule?
As previously mentioned, the five-day event kicks off on July 2 and runs through July 7. The first set of matches will begin at 11 AM GMT/ 7 AM EST/ 4 AM PST as Team Liquid battle MVP PK and Natus Vincere take on Mousesports.
Games will kick off at those times until the play-off stages when fans can enjoy a later start time of 2 PM GMT/10 AM EST/7 AM PST.
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The full schedule can be found below:
Tuesday, July 2
| Team Liquid | 16-14 | MVP PK |
| Natus Vincere | 16-14 | mousesports |
| FaZe | 16-14 | Renegades |
| FURIA | 7-16 | NRG |
| Astralis | 16-4 | BIG |
| MIBR | 11-16 | Fnatic |
| Team Vitality | 10-16 | NiP |
| ENCE | 10-16 | Heroic |
| MVP PK | 0-2 | mousesports |
| Team Liquid | 2-1 | Natus Vincere |
| Renegades | 0-2 | Furia |
| FaZe | 0-2 | NRG |
Wednesday, July 3
| BIG Clan | 2-1 | MIBR |
| ENCE | 1-2 | Team Vitality |
| mousesports | 2-0 | FaZe Clan |
| Astralis | 2-0 | fnatic |
| FURIA | 0-2 | Natus Vincere |
| Heroic | 0-2 | NiP |
Thursday, July 4
| BIG Clan | 0-2 | Heroic |
| Team Vitality | 2-0 | fnatic |
| Team Liquid | 2-0 | NRG Esports |
| mousesports | 1-2 | Natus Vincere |
| Astralis | 2-0 | NiP |
| Team Vitality | 2-0 | Heroic |
Friday, July 5
| NRG | 0-2 | Team Vitality |
| NiP | 0-2 | Natus Vincere |
Saturday, July 6
| Team Liquid | 2-0 | Natus Vincere |
| Astralis | 1-2 | Team Vitality |
Sunday, July 7 – Grand Final
| Team Liquid | 3-1 | Team Vitality |
This post was last updated on Sunday, July 7 at 12:07 pm EST.