ESL Grand Slam race restarts at IEM Dallas 2025

Jonno Nicholson
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Image of ESL Grand Slam logo on a blurred background of Team Vitality players holding medals
Image credit: ESL FACEIT Group

ESL FACEIT Group has announced that the race for the ESL Grand Slam will restart at Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Dallas.

The announcement follows Team Vitality‘s victory at IEM Melbourne, where the French esports organisation won the fifth edition of the million-dollar incentive offered by the tournament organiser.

IEM Dallas takes place as part of DreamHack Dallas from May 19th to 25th, 2025 and acts as the first event that contributes to the sixth edition of the ESL Grand Slam.

The event will feature 16 teams competing for a $300,000 (~£226,929) prize pool and is the first of five wins needed for the ESL Grand Slam. Three of the five former winners will be competing at the event.

Similar to previous editions of the initiative, the team that manages to win three ESL Pro Tour (EPT) Masters events and one EPT Championship event within a span of ten consecutive Counter-Strike events will earn a set of gold bars and a $1m (~£756,618) prize.

Alongside IEM Dallas, the following events will also contribute to the race:

  • IEM Cologne
  • ESL Pro League Season 22
  • IEM Chengdu
  • ESL Pro League Season 23

Who has won the ESL Grand Slam?

A total of five teams have managed to win the race, previously known as the Intel Grand Slam, since it began in 2017.

Danish esports organisation Astralis was the first to win the prize in December 2018 before Team Liquid, NAVI, and FaZe Clan secured the accolade.

Team Vitality is the most recent winner of the initiative following its 3-2 victory over Team Falcons in the IEM Melbourne grand final in April.

The initiative is open to all teams competing across ESL FACEIT Group’s Counter-Strike circuit, rewarding teams that are able to perform consistently across the event organiser’s portfolio of international events.

Jonno Nicholson

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Jonno is a writer for Esports Insider and has been part of the team since 2019. Over the past ten years, he's written for several outlets including Gfinity, GGRecon, and Radio Times. As an avid sim racer, he aims to provide insight on one of the fastest growing sectors in esports.
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