ESL has announced on June 3 all the invites for IEM Cologne 2025, which will be played between July and August. Curiously, ESL chose to release the list while all CS2 fans were watching the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 opener.
IEM Cologne 2025 will welcome 24 teams from all over the world. The tournament will feature two Stages before the playoffs, and the best teams in the world will enter the competition in Stage 2.
The German event is one of ESL’s flagship tournaments alongside IEM Katowice, which will move to Kraków for 2026 and onwards.
Here are all the CS2 teams invited for IEM Cologne 2025.
IEM Cologne 2025 invites
Stage 1
- FaZe Clan
- Team Liquid
- FURIA
- Complexity
- GamerLegion
- HEROIC
- 3DMAX
- Virtus.pro
- TYLOO
- MIBR
- B8
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- BIG
- paiN
- FlyQuest
Stage 2
- Vitality
- MOUZ
- Team Spirit
- Falcons
- The MongolZ
- Aurora
- G2
- Natus Vincere
IEM Cologne 2025 format
Vitality are the reigning champions of IEM Cologne. Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL
First of all, all IEM Cologne 2025 invites were defined based on the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) data on June 2.
The 16 teams invited for Stage 1 will battle through a double-elimination bracket, and half of them will advance to Stage 2. All matches in Stage 1 will be best-of-three series.
As for Stage 2, IEM Cologne 2025 will split the 16 teams into two double-elimination groups, and the top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs. All matches in this stage will be best-of-three series too.
The tournament kicks off on July 23, and the playoff starts on August 1. The top six teams will play in a single-elimination bracket, and all matches will be best-of-threes, aside from the best-of-five grand finals.
It’s worth noting that, as IEM Cologne 2025 will be played after the summer break, a lot of teams in the list may show up with a different lineup. Barring Vitality, of course, as they’re on a 30-match win streak and won multiple consecutive tournaments in the first half of 2025.
Feature image credit: © ESL