ESL not optimistic about holding ESL One Cologne on LAN
ESL One Cologne is likely to be moved online as the organizers are not optimistic about being able to move all teams to one location.
The news was first reported by DBLTAP and HLTV.org can confirm the information after reaching out to the organizers: "It looks like, based on the European Union regulations, getting people to one place will be challenging," a source from ESL told HLTV.org.
On Wednesday, the European Union recommended its member states to start lifting travel restrictions to 15 non-EU countries. The list includes countries such as Canada, Australia, and China but notably omits the United States of America, Brazil, and Russia; the three countries with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, currently amounting to nearly five million combined.
At the moment, the German event is still officially scheduled for August 21-30, after being moved from July 6-12 as a result of the pandemic. On Wednesday, ESL announced 18 of the 24 participants, including several North American residents: Liquid, 100 Thieves, Evil Geniuses, FURIA, and Cloud9.