ESL Announced Challenger Rotterdam Closed Qualifiers invites

ESL revealed which eight teams from three regions have been invited to ESL Challenger Rotterdam Closer Qualifiers. The announcement surfaced on Thursday, September 8. Just a week before the qualifiers kick off.

As announced by ESL on Thursday, the European ESL Challenger Rotterdam Closed Qualifiers will feature Entropiq, forZe, Eternal Fire, and Sprout. The four teams have all received direct invites and have locked in a spot in the tournament, where they’ll compete for a single ticket leading to the main event.

The European Closed Qualifier will feature eight teams in total, including four squads who will earn their spot in the event via the two open qualifiers. The first open qualifying event will run from September 8-9, followed by the second European open qualifier on September 10-11.

On the other side of the pond, ESL announced ATK, Squirtle Squad, and Team oNe as the four directly invited to the North American ESL Challenger Rotterdam Closed Qualifiers. The North American Qualifiers will run from September 17-18 and welcome just four squads, including ATK, Squirtle Squad, Team oNe, and one team from the open qualifiers.

The North American open qualifying event is slated to begin on September 14 and conclude a day later, welcoming 32 teams competing in a single-elimination bracket for a spot in the closed qualifiers.

While the NA event will feature three directly invited teams, the South American ESL Challenger Rotterdam Closed Qualifiers will welcome just two in Imperial and paiN Gaming.

Joining Imperial and paiN Gaming will be two teams from the South American closed qualifiers. And while it’s unclear which two squads those might be, we will get an answer soon.

The first South American ESL Challenger Rotterdam Open Qualifiers event will run on September 9-10, followed by the second on September 10-11. Both events will welcome 16 CS:GO teams and use a single-elimination Bo1 format up to the finals, which will be Bo3.

The ESL Challenger Rotterdam 2022 is set to kick off on Friday, October 14, at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The tournament will welcome a total of eight CS:GO teams and will be played fully offline, allowing a live audience at the venue.

Although the European, North American, and South American qualifiers have yet to begin, the tournament already has its first confirmed attendee in Nixuh, who qualified for the Rotterdam tournament via the South African qualifiers.

Aran “Sonic” Groesbeek and his crew qualified for ESL Challenger Rotterdam with a perfect run through the domestic qualifying event, beating Goliath Gaming, DNMK Esports, and Bravado Gaming without dropping a single map. Now, Nixuh must wait to see which seven teams will join them in the Netherlands.

The ESL Challenger Rotterdam 2022 will include the four qualified teams and four invited squads, which have yet to be announced. The eight teams will be divided into two GSL groups of four, where all opening and winner matches will be Bo1, while the elimination and decider matches will be played as Bo3.

The playoffs, which will welcome only the top two teams from each group, will transition to a single-elimination bracket where all matches – including the grand finals – will be played as Bo3. The tournament will feature a $100,000 prize pool, half of which will be handed to the champions.

The tournament winners will also secure a ticket for ESL Pro League Conference Season 17, as the qualifying event for ESL Pro League Season 17, which will head to Malta in 2023.