ESL has announced the 16 teams invited to IEM Melbourne 2025, set to take place from April 21st to 27th.
The invited teams include FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, Team Spirit, Team Vitality, Team Liquid, paiN Gaming, The MongolZ, FlyQuest, Eternal Fire, MIBR, BIG, and MOUZ.
Teams were selected based on the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) rankings as of February 3rd— including the top 10 teams from the Global VRS rankings — with the remaining teams chosen based on their Regional VRS rankings.
Given these rankings, G2 Esports, FURIA Esports, and Astralis should have been a part of the tournament; however, they declined their invitations. As a result, paiN Gaming, MIBR, and BIG have been selected as replacements per the VRS rankings.
It’s currently unclear why the three teams, including top team G2, decided not to compete at IEM Melbourne 2025. It’s possible that G2 has agreed to compete in Yalla Compass Qatar or BLAST Rivals Mexico and want to give the players a break afterwards.
The 16 teams will be split into two groups of eight, competing in a double-elimination format. The top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs at Rod Laver Arena.
The playoffs will follow a single-elimination format, with all matches being best-of-three, except for the Grand Final, which will be a best-of-five game. ESL will announce daily match schedule, along with the groups soon.
This is the first time IEM is heading to Melbourne, and the tournament features a $1,000,000 (~£792,763) prize pool, with the champion team taking home $285,000 (~£225,936). The tickets for the event are now on sale for the fans and all the matches will be streamed live on ESL’s official YouTube and Twitch channels.
You will also be able to tune into online watch parties organized by your favorite content creators to watch IEM Melbourne and watch them react live to the matches.
If you miss getting your passes in this wave, you’ll have to wait until Wave 3 of ticket bookings, the dates for which have not been revealed yet by ESL.
