G2 win IEM Cologne 2023: Final placements and recap

IEM Cologne 2023 has come to a close, with G2 Esports winning the title after besting ENCE in the final. Read our recap of the tournament and find all the results and placements here.

The ‘Cathedral of Counter-Strike’ has bid farewell to CS:GO.

Since 2015, the LANXESS arena has been the stage of many legendary bouts that will forever live in Counter-Strike lore. But this year was special: IEM Cologne 2023 was the last edition of the event to feature CS:GO as the esport is poised to make a slow transition to Counter-Strike 2, which will be released sometime in the summer.

This year’s tournament may not have lived up to the lofty standards set by the 2022 event, which culminated in a nail-biting five-map final between FaZe and NAVI, but it still had its fair share of excitement, especially as a number of teams debuted their new rosters, most notably Cloud9.

In the end, it was G2 who ran out victors after beating ENCE 3-1 in the grand final, capping off a fantastic run that saw them lose just three maps and that also included victories over FaZe, Vitality and Astralis.

Shortly after the final, tournament MVP Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač said that winning Cologne does ease the pain of not winning a Major title in CS:GO. “This trophy definitely makes my career look a bit better,” the Bosnian superstar said. “Even though there is no Major, at least now there’s Cologne.”

The victory shows that G2’s decision to keep the same roster after the failed BLAST Paris Major run was the right call. Many had called for the team to cut ties with Rasmus ‘HooXi’ Nielsen, but G2 opted to give the Danish IGL one more chance. While most teams switched players during the off-season, G2 were rewarded for their patience. They have become the third team in history to win Katowice and Cologne in the same year, after Fnatic (2015) and FaZe (2022).

Below is everything you need to know about IEM Cologne 2023.

• Placements and results
• Teams and rosters

IEM Cologne 2023: Dates and format

The tournament took place from July 26 through August 6. The Play-In Stage and the group stage were held behind closed doors, while the playoff matches took place at the LANXESS arena in front of a crowd.

Play-In (July 26-28)

• 16-team double-elimination bracket
• Opening round is BO1, the rest is BO3
• 8 teams move on to the group stage

Group Stage (July 29-August 1)

• Two double-elimination groups of eight teams
• All matches are BO3
• Top three teams per group advance to the playoffs

Playoff Stage (August 4-6)

• Single-elimination bracket with group winners in the semi-finals
• Quarter-finals and semi-finals are BO3, grand final is BO5

IEM Cologne 2023: Final placements and results

Playoffs (August 4-6)

Day 1: August 4

Day 2: August 5

Day 3: August 6

Group Stage (July 29-August 1)

Day 1: July 29

Day 2: July 30

Day 3: July 31

Day 4: August 1

Play-In (July 26-28)

Day 1: July 26

Day 2: July 27

Day 3: July 28

IEM Cologne 2023: Teams and rosters

IEM Cologne featured 24 teams from all over the world, eight of which went straight to the group stage. The remaining 16 had to go through the Play-In stage, which determined the last eight sides entering the main tournament.

Four group stage slots went to the winners of IEM Katowice, ESL Pro League Season 17, IEM Rio and IEM Dallas. The champion of ESL Meisterschaft, Germany’s main CS:GO league, got direct entry into the Play-In stage.

Group Stage teams

Play-In teams