Esports tournament operator ESL has unveiled the 2024 ESL Pro Tour Counter-Strike programme, which includes the return of IEM China.
Other notable changes include shortening the ESL Pro League from five weeks to three and new regions being added to the ESL Challenger League.
The ESL Pro Tour is the company’s premier Counter-Strike tournament series and includes arguably the two most-known CS tournaments in the world: IEM Cologne and IEM Katowice. Both tournaments will return in 2024, with IEM Katowice taking place in early February and IEM Cologne in mid-August.
The two events make up the ESL Pro Tour Championship, with several other smaller-scale tournaments from the IEM series making up the ESL Pro Tour Masters. Notably, IEM China will take place in April, the first IEM event in China since 2019. IEM Dallas will take place in late May and early June in Dallas, Texas, and a yet-to-be-announced tournament from the IEM series will happen between October 7th and 13th.
The ESL Pro League, ESL’s top competitive partner league, will also return. However, the two seasons will be shortened to three weeks each. According to ESL, the structure and the number of teams will remain the same, but two groups will be played at the same time. The location will also be familiar to Pro League fans: the Mediterranean island of Malta.
Lastly, the ESL Pro Tour Challenger tournaments will serve as the next step from FACEIT and ESEA matchmaking, allowing teams to compete in LAN events. The ESL Challenger League will have two seasons in 2024 and will add South America, Australia, and New Zealand to the list of regions. 2024 will see ESL Challenger League Seasons 47 and 48 take place in February and June, as well as July and November.
There will be a total of four ESL Challenger tournaments, with LAN events in several regions. The April tournament’s location is to be announced, June will see Challenger played in Europe, October will welcome teams to Atlanta, Georgia as a part of DreamHack Atlanta 2024, and November’s edition will return to Europe.
