IEM Cologne 2023 Invited Teams Announced | The Full List

With the player break now well underway, all of CS:GO’s best players have the opportunity to refresh and rejuvenate for the rest of 2023. The wheels are already turning on competitions for later this year, with IEM Cologne 2023 revealing its invited teams. We’re taking a look at these rosters, to see if there are any interesting prospects.

Group Stage Teams

With a total Group Stage of 16 teams, 8 have already secured their place in the main event. These IEM Cologne invites come in one of two ways – through competition wins, or through a high ESL World Ranking. This ensures that the best CS:GO teams of the moment are all guaranteed a place at the Cathedral of Counter-Strike. Here is every confirmed Group Stage team so far at the upcoming Intel Extreme Masters event.

There are certainly most of the usual suspects that you’d expect to see here. The likes of G2, FaZe, Vitality, and Heroic have been the best CS:GO teams in the world so far in 2023, so it’s easy to imagine them taking part at IEM Cologne 2023. Considering their poor form, the Cloud9 CS:GO team’s presence might be a shock to some, but ultimately they’ve done enough for an IEM Cologne invite.

ENCE were a surprise winner of IEM Dallas 2023, but they’ve earned their spot, just the same as everyone else. You’d have to say the only big surprise is GamerLegion, who qualify due to their ESL World Ranking. Given their Grand Final run in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, GamerLegion deserve a chance to prove it wasn’t a fluke.

It will be interesting to see how the inevitable summer break roster changes affect the IEM Cologne 2023 Group Stage teams. There are rumors that the NAVI CS:GO roster could be making some adjustments, with npl potentially on the chopping block. Meanwhile, GamerLegion could lose siuhy, the IGL credited as a large reason the team made it to that Major final. It could kill their IEM Cologne 2023 chances before the tournament begins. Even G2 could be cutting HooXi, so it could be a transitional tournament for them, too.

Play-In Teams

The rest of the teams at IEM Cologne 2023 with begin with a Play-In to determine who makes it to the Group Stage. These teams can be seen below:

You can see the influences of the Paris Major on these IEM Cologne invites. Apeks, Monte, and Into The Breach will all be there, after their surprise Playoff runs in Paris. Like GamerLegion, these teams all have a point to prove to cement their status in Tier 1 CS:GO. It would be too easy for them to get one good tournament under their belt and immediately fall off, but IEM Cologne 2023 is their chance to stop that in its tracks. Bizarrely, BIG Academy made it to IEM Cologne 2023, but not the main team. It seems likely that the main roster will temporarily be demoted to ensure they have the best chance of victory here.

There’s potential for some brilliant matchups here, with iconic rivalries like Astralis vs Liquid and Fnatic vs NIP on the table. The Play-In matches are yet to be decided, and hopefully it delivers on its promise. Keep an eye on esports.net as the tournament approaches for more IEM Cologne 2023 news.

Recap

So, to recap:

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