IEM Cologne is one of the most prestigious tournaments in CS2. Its history goes back more than a decade and the fans treat it with the same respect as a Major.
This year, IEM Cologne offers $1 million in prize money, features the world’s highest-ranked 24 teams (according to Valve), and is scheduled to take place between July 23 and August 3.
Competitive Format
IEM Cologne 2025 will be played in three stages: play-in, groups, and playoffs.
The play-in stage features 16 teams and gives eight of them the chance to advance to the group stage. To advance, a team must win two matches and not lose more than one.
The group stage is considerably harder. First of all, because the competition is fiercer, and second because in order to advance, a team must either win the first two matches or obtain three victories in total without losing more than once. Achieving such a high win rate at this level is very difficult.
With eight teams per group and only three available spots for the playoffs, only the best of the best will be given the chance to compete on the main stage.
The third stage of the tournament uses the double-elimination format. However, the group winners start in the semifinals.
All matches are best-of-three, except for the Grand Final.
Participants
Here are the 24 teams that will compete in IEM Cologne 2025:
- Team Vitality
- MOUZ
- Team Spirit
- Team Falcons
- The MongolZ
- Aurora Gaming
- G2 Esports
- Natus Vincere
These eight teams will start the tournament in the group stage. The remaining 16 will need to survive the play-in stage first. Here they are:
- GamerLegion
- FaZe Clan
- Astralis
- 3DMAX
- HEROIC
- Team Liquid
- Virtus.pro
- FURIA
- Complexity
- TYLOO
- MIBR
- B8
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- BIG
- PaiN Gaming
- FlyQuest
Favorites
For the play-in stage, the favorites are:
- FaZe Clan
- 3DMAX
- FURIA
- Virtus.pro
- B8
- HEROIC
- PaiN Gaming
- Astralis
The overall favorites are Team Vitality, MOUZ, Team Spirit, Team Falcons, and The MongolZ.
