After much doubt and several conflicting statements, ESL has finally decided on the format of ESL One Cologne 2020. Despite the fact that the organizer of the tournaments originally planned to hold the competitions in an in-person format, it will not be possible to do so in the end. Due to the fact that the situation with the epidemic danger is still difficult and in many countries there are still restrictions on mass events and foreign travel. In the official blog, ESL representatives note that the team made every possible effort to hold a LAN tournament, but still failed to achieve this. After a thorough review of the international travel rules that are currently in place, it was decided to hold the competition in an online format.
All teams will be divided into four regional divisions. Thus, teams from Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania will compete separately. Teams will compete for $500,000 in prize money. The participation of some teams has already been confirmed. Thus, Astralis, fnatic, NAVI, G2 and about ten other top teams got places in the European division. From North American teams TeamLiquid, 100 Thieves and EvilGeniuses were invited, from Asia – TyLoo, and from – Renegades.
At the same time, ESL hopes that from the beginning of 2021 it will be possible to return to the usual format of LAN-tournaments.
