IEM Cologne 2025, a major Counter-Strike tournament, is right around the corner. ESL has announced all 24 top teams that will compete, and the excitement is mounting high. The event will last two weeks and take place at the LANXESS Arena, a famous venue for Counter-Strike.
The teams will be battling for a whopping $1.25 million prize pool, marking a thrilling start to the second season of the year. However, before it kickstarts, here’s everything that you need to know about the tournament.
- Date: July 23 to August 3
- Location: LANXESS Arena, Cologne, Germany
- Prize pool: $1,250,000
Competitive Format
The stakes are high with a $1.25 million prize pool, but so is the excitement. The event is split into three parts: Stage 1 runs from July 23 to 25, followed by Stage 2 from July 26 to 30. Finally, the champions will be crowned during the Playoffs, held from August 1 to 3 at the iconic LANXESS Arena. Let’s look at each stage.
Play-In
In this stage, fans will see a clash between 16 teams in a double-elimination bracket, where two losses mean elimination. Only the top eight teams will advance to Stage 2, and all matches will be best-of-three, meaning a team needs to win two maps to win the match.
These are the opening round matches on July 23:
- Liquid vs paiN
- Complexity vs GamerLegion
- FaZe vs BIG
- 3DMAX vs MIBR
- NIP vs HEROIC
- TYLOO vs Virtus.pro
- Astralis vs B8
- FlyQuest vs FURIA
Group Stage
The eight teams that advance from Stage 1 will join eight directly invited teams, creating a total of 16 teams for the Group Stage. These 16 teams will be split into two groups, each playing in a double-elimination bracket where all matches are best-of-three. From these groups, only the top three teams from each will move on to the Playoffs.
These are the stage 2 groups:
Group A
- Vitality vs TBD
- TBD vs G2
- Falcons vs TBD
- TBD vs The MongolZ
Group B
- MOUZ vs TBD
- TBD vs NAVI
- Aurora vs TBD
- TBD vs Spirit
Playoffs
The final stage will see the six qualified teams compete in a single-elimination bracket. The two group winners from the previous stage will get a direct pass to the semifinals. Meanwhile, the second-place teams from each group will enter the quarterfinals as “High Seeds,” and the third-place teams will join as “Low Seeds.” All quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be a best-of-three series, leading up to an epic best-of-five Grand Final.
Participating Teams
Let’s look at the 24 teams that will battle it out in the IEM Cologne 2025.
- Team Vitality: Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Shahar “flameZ” Shushan, William “mezii” Merriman, Robin “ropz” Kool
- MOUZ: Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás, Dorian “xertioN” Berman, Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo, Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin, Lotan “Spinx” Giladi
- Team Spirit: Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov, Boris “magixx” Vorobyev, Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotja, Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov
- Team Falcons: Emil “Magisk ”Reif, Nikola “NiKo ”Kovač, René “TeSeS ”Madsen, Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski, Ilya “m0NESY ”Osipov
- The MongolZ: Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren, Sodbayar “Techno4K” Munkhbold, Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch, Ayush “mzinho” Batbold, Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold
- Aurora Gaming: İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş, Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli, Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalçın, Özgür “woxic” Eker, Samet “jottAAA” Köklü
- G2 Esports: Nemanja “huNter” Kovač, Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa, Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski, Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko
- Natus Vincere: Valerij “b1t” Vakhovsjkyj, Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, Justinas “jL” Lekavičius, Mihai “iM” Ivan, Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov
The above eight teams will directly enter the tournament in the Group Stage. Meanwhile, the other 16 will compete in the Play-In to bag a spot to play further. Let’s look at them.
- GamerLegion: Henrich “sl3nd” Hevesi , Erik “ztr” Gustafsson, Sebastian “Tauson” Tauson, Oldrich “PR” Novy, Fredrik “REZ” Sterner
- FaZe Clan: Håvard “rain” Nygaard, Finn “karrigan” Andersen, David “frozen” Čerňanský, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski
- Astralis: Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz, Victor “Staehr ”Staehr, Martin “stavn” Lund, Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard
- 3DMAX: Lucas “Lucky” Chastang, Pierre “Ex3rcice ”Bulinge, Bryan “Maka” Canada, Filip “Graviti” Brankovic, Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro
- HEROIC: Alvaro “SunPayus ”Garcia, Linus “LNZ ”Holtäng, Simon “yxngstxr” Boije, Yasin “xfl0ud” Koc, Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich
- Team Liquid: Keith “NAF ”Markovic, Russel “Twistzz ”Van Dulken, Roland “ultimate ”Tomkowiak, Guy “NertZ” Iluz
- Virtus.pro: Evgeniy “FL1T ”Lebedev, Petr “fame ”Bolyshev, Denis “electroNic” Sharipov, Timur “FL4MUS ”Maryev, Kaisar “ICY” Faiznurov
- FURIA: Yuri “yuurih ”Boian, Kaike “KSCERAT O” Cerato, Gabiela “FalleN” Toledo, Danil “molodoy” Golubenko
- Complexity: Ioannis ‘Johnny’ “JT ”Theodosiou, Michael “Grim ”Wince, Håkon “hallzerk ”Fjærli, Danny “Cxzi ”Strzelczyk, Nicholas “nicx” Lee
- TYLOO: Sheng “Attacker ”Yuanzhang, Yang “JamYoung ”Yi, Chen “Moseyuh” Qianhao, Wang “Mercury ”Jingxiang, Ji “Jee ”Dongkai
- MIBR: Raphael “exit ”Lacerda, Breno “brnz4n ”Poletto, Felipe “insani” Yuji, Rafael “saffee ”Costa, Lucas “Lucaozy ”Neves
- B8: Andri j“npl ”Kukharsjkyj, Dmytro “esenthial” Tsvir, Aleksei “alex666” Yarmoshchuk, Artem “kensizor ”Kapran
- Ninjas in Pyjamas: Artem “r1nkle ”Moroz, Rafael “arrozdoce ”Wing, Michel “ewjerkz ”Magalhães, Rasmus “sjuush” Beck, Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer
- BIG: Johannes “tabseN ”Wodarz, Karim “Krimbo ”Moussa, Jon “JDC ”de Castro, Can “kyuubii ”Ali, Marcel “hyped ”Köhn
- PaiN Gaming: Rodrigo “biguzera ”Bittencourt, Lucas “nqz ”Soares, João “snow ”Vinicius, David “dav1deuS” Tapia, Franco “dgt” Garcia
- FlyQuest: Joshua “INS ”Potter, Jay “Liaz z” Tregillgas, Declan “Vexite ”Portelli, Iulian “regali ”Harjău, Corey “nettik ”Browne
IEM Cologne 2025: Betting Odds
There are numerous betting markets available for wagering on IEM Cologne 2025. Let’s look at the most popular ones.
- Moneyline bets: In simpler terms, this kind of betting on IEM Cologne just involves picking which team you think will win a particular match.
- Outright bets: This one is about picking the overall winner of the entire CS2 tournament. If the team you choose makes it to the Grand Final and wins, then you win your bet.
- Prop bets: These cover all the unique wagers you can make that aren’t simply picking the winner of a match. This includes things like betting on the total number of maps or rounds played, who will be named the Match MVP, and other specific in-game events.
- Live bets: You can also bet on IEM Cologne matches as they are happening, though this might not be available everywhere.
If you are interested in placing bets on these matches, 7bet offers a variety of betting markets to choose from. However, ensure that you adhere to all the responsible gambling practices before wagering your money.
Where to Watch the IEM Cologne 2025?
You can catch all the IEM Cologne 2025 matches live on the official ESL Twitch and YouTube channels. Full match videos and highlights will also be available on their YouTube channel, so you don’t miss out on any action.
What’s at Stake?
More than just an honour, the IEM Cologne 2025 champions will take home $400,000 from the $1.25 million prize pool. Let’s look at its distribution.
| Place | Prize Money | Club Reward |
| 1st | $400,000 | $60,000 |
| 2nd | $180,000 | $36,000 |
| 3rd-4th | $80,000 | $28,000 |
| 5th-6th | $40,000 | $21,000 |
| 7th-8th | $24,000 | $14,000 |
| 9th-12th | $16,000 | $7,000 |
| 13th-16th | $10,000 | – |
| 17th-20th | $4,500 | – |
| 21st-24th | $2,500 | – |
—
Betting is only available to participants above 18 years. Please bet responsibly. BeGambleAware.org