New format for ESL Pro League Season 9
The tournament will be shifting to LAN format
ESL and WESA announced a new format for the upcoming regular season of ESL Pro League. The main innovation concerns the fact that from the ninth season onwards, all matches in the European and North American division will be in the LAN format.
Each of the above regions will consist of 16 teams, which will subsequently be divided into 4 groups. Team's distribution into the final part of the tournament will be different for each region. Thus, in Europe, the winners of the groups will ensure participation in the final stage of the ESL Pro League S9, and the worst teams will leave the competition.
The rest of the teams will get to the second selection stage, where they will have fights in two groups - two out of each will get to the LAN-final. As for the North American division, the only difference with the European qualification is that in the second round, participants will compete for two slots of the final stage at the ESL Pro League. And finally, the Asia-Pacific region will be allocated three slots.
In Europe, group stage matches will be held at ESL Studios in Leicester. The venue for North American matches has not yet been determined. Teams from Asia and Oceania will continue to fight for slots in the final part of the ESL Pro League online.
The will return for Season 9 on April 12, 2019 with more teams and a brand new format that replaces online play with studio matches for the EU and AM regions!
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS)
Full details
The new season of ESL Pro League will begin on April 12. 16 teams will play in the finals. The prize fund of the championship has not been announced.
