ESL Unveils Bold Changes to 2024 Pro Tour Qualification Structure

ESL has recently disclosed the revised slot distribution and qualification procedures for the upcoming ESL Pro Tour events in 2024. This announcement follows the unveiling of next year's competitive calendar, featuring seven Masters and Championship events alongside four Challenger events.

In a strategic move, ESL has adjusted the slot distribution, notably impacting the North American representation in IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne. The World Ranking NA spots for both events have been reduced from two to one, and the Elisa Masters Espoo qualifier for Katowice has been removed.

To balance these alterations, ESL has introduced two additional Global ESL World Ranking invites for Katowice and an extra invite for Cologne. Moreover, ESL Meisterschaft will no longer grant direct entry to Cologne; instead, a German qualifier will take its place.

IEM China 2024, stepping in for IEM Sydney in the Pro Tour calendar, will now feature an offline qualifier instead of a local hero invite. Additionally, the European qualifier spots for this event have been reduced from two to one, with South America securing a new qualifier slot.

Here's a breakdown of the key changes in the 2024 ESL Pro Tour:

IEM Katowice 2024:

• Removed Affiliate Event slot (Elisa in 2023).
• Reduced ESL World Ranking NA slots from 2 to 1.
• Added 2 additional Global ESL World Ranking invites (8 instead of 6), compensating for the removal of the affiliate event and 1 NA ESL World Ranking slot.

IEM Cologne 2024:

• Replaced ESL Meisterschaft slot with a German qualifier slot.
• Reduced ESL World Ranking NA slots from 2 to 1.
• Added 1 additional Global ESL World Ranking invite (8 instead of 7), compensating for the removal of the affiliate event and 1 NA ESL World Ranking slot.

ESL Pro League S19:

• Global ESL World Ranking slots increased from 3 to 4.
• ESL Pro League EU Pre Qualifier Season 19 slots reduced from 2 to 1.
• ESL Brazil Premier League Season 15 slot replaced with an increased qualifier slot for South America (2 instead of 1).

ESL Pro League S20:

• Added two new regions for ECL (ESL Challenger League) slots, South America and Oceania, both with 2 qualifying slots.
• Removed National Championship & open qualifier slots, replaced by new regions of ECL.
• Removed 1 Global ESL World Ranking slot (from 4 to 3).
• Added two Affiliate Event slots (one for EU Pre-Qualifier, one for TBD event).

IEM China 2024 (vs IEM Sydney):

• Replaced Local Hero Invite with Offline Qualifier.
• Decreased EU Qualifier slots from 2 to 1 and added 1 SA Qualifier slot instead.

ESL Challenger:

• ESL removed the South African slot and, in some cases, replaced Local Hero Invite slots with local qualifiers.