ESL confirms Rio de Janeiro Major

ESL has announced that it will host the first Counter-Strike Major of 2020, called ESL One Rio.

The event will have $1 million on offer and will culminate with the playoff stage live from the Jeunesse Arena, an indoor multi-purpose arena that hosted in 2017 the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), and in 2018 the Rainbow Six Siege Season 8 Pro League finals.

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Unlike the StarLadder Major, where all three stages had a live crowd, ESL One Rio will see the Challengers Stage and the Legends Stage played backstage. Tickets for the Champions Stage will go on sale from December 12, with the cheapest one-day ticket costing between R$70 ($17) and R$90 ($22), and the four-day pass costing between R$260 ($63) and R$1200 ($290).

This will be the first-ever Counter-Strike Major held in Brazil, which has already hosted two Big Events in Counter-Strike: the ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals, in 2016, and ESL One Belo Horizonte, in 2018.

“We are extremely excited and proud to host the next Major in Brazil,” said Ulrich Schulze, Senior Vice President Product at ESL. "Our aim is to bring pure esports moments to the most passionate fans around the world and reward them by creating a unique experience on all levels.

"With teams from all over the world having a chance to qualify and making their way to the final, we expect the matches to be incredible and the crowd to be the loudest we have ever seen."

For the first time in the history of the Majors, all four Minors will be held simultaneously, from April 26 through May 3. The top two sides from these four regional tournaments plus the two teams coming out of the Minor Play-In - featuring the third-placed sides from the Minors - will advance to the Challengers Stage, joining the following six teams:

The eight-best teams of the Challengers Stage will secure entry into the Legends Stage, where they will join the top eight sides from the StarLadder Major, who can be found below:

Below you can find the complete schedule for ESL One Rio:

Minors - April 26 - May 3
Challengers Stage - May 11-14
Legends Stage - May 16-19
Champions Stage - May 21-24