ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) announced that the ESL Pro League returns to St. Julian’s, Malta, from Sept. 3-22, for Season 20, with 32 teams from across the globe competing for a piece of a total prize pool of $750K USD. In addition to taking home prize money, teams will also be vying for points to win the Intel Grand Slam V and a spot at the first ESL Pro Tour Championship tournament of 2025.
The group stage begins Sept. 3, and runs until Sept. 16, with 32 teams divided into four groups of eight to compete in a triple-elimination bracket with best-of-three (Bo3) matches. Groups A & B: will compete from Sept. 3-8, while Groups C & D will slug it out from Sept. 10-15.
The top four teams from each group will advance to the playoffs. During the playoffs, those 16 teams will face off in best-of-three (Bo3) matches in a single elimination bracket, with the top two teams heading to the grand finals. The playoffs will run from Sept. 17-21.
The winner of the grand finals will be named the ESL Pro League Season 20 Champion, take home $170K in prize money, and qualify for the first ESL Pro Tour Championship event of 2025. The grand finals will take place on Sept. 22.
Teams participating in Season 20 include a mix of partnered teams that received direct invites and those organizations that qualified through various regional competitions. They are:
- Astralis (Partner Team)
- BIG (Partner Team)
- Complexity Gaming (Partner Team)
- ENCE (Partner Team)
- FaZe Clan (Partner Team)
- Fnatic (Partner Team)
- FURIA Esports (Partner Team)
- G2 Esports (Partner Team)
- HEROIC (Partner Team)
- MOUZ (Partner Team)
- Natus Vincere (Partner Team)
- Ninjas in Pyjamas (Partner Team)
- Team Liquid (Partner Team)
- Team Vitality (Partner Team)
- MIBR (ESL Challenger Melbourne 2024 Winner)
- Team Falcons (ESL Challenger Jönköping 2024 Runner-up)
- Sangal Esports (ESL Challenger League Season 47 – Europe Winner)
- KOI (ESL Challenger League Season 47 – Europe Runner-up)
- M80 (ESL Challenger League Season 47 – North America Winner)
- Wildcard Gaming (ESL Challenger League Season 47 – North America Runner-up)
- Lynn Vision Gaming (ESL Challenger League Season 47 – Asia Winner)
- ATOX Esports (ESL Challenger League Season 47 – Asia Runner-up)
- Imperial Esports (ESL Challenger League Season 47 – South America Winner)
- RED Canids (ESL Challenger League Season 47 – South America Runner-up)
- FlyQuest (ESL Challenger League Season 47 – Oceania Winner)
- Rooster (ESL Challenger League Season 47 – Oceania Runner-up)
- 3DMAX (ESL Pro League Season 20 – EU Pre-Qualifier Winner)
- Team Spirit (ESL World Ranking Global)
- Virtus.pro (ESL World Ranking Global)
- The MongolZ (ESL World Ranking Global)
- 9z Globant (ESL World Ranking Global)
- Eternal Fire (ESL World Ranking Global)
Prize Pool Breakdown:
- 1s: $170K
- 2nd: $80K
- 3rd – 4th: $45K (each)
- 5th – 8th: $32K (each)
- 9th – 12th: $23.5K (each)
- 13th – 16th: $17.5K (each)
- 17th – 20th: $12K (each)
- 21st – 28th: $7K (each)
- 29th – 32nd: $3.5K (each)
Fans who are local to the competition can purchase tickets online, but Season 20 will also be broadcast on EFG’s platform FACEIT Watch, and its Counter-Strike Twitch and YouTube channels.
EFG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Savvy Games Group, which is 100% owned and operated by the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund, and Saudi Arabia’s ruler, HRH Crown Prince MBS, is the company’s Chairman of the Board. EFG operates a number of esports and gaming festival companies including ESL, FACEIT, Esports Engine, and DreamHack.