ESL Pro League S17 groups and opening matchups set

27/1/2023 - 14:38

In less than a month's time 32 teams will converge in Malta to fight in the new-look ESL Pro League Season 17.

ESL has announced the group distribution and opening matchups for the upcoming 17th season of ESL Pro League, which is set to be played over five weeks from February 22 to March 26.

EPL recently underwent an expansion from 24 to 32 teams as well as a change in format. This change will see the participating teams play in four groups of eight featuring a triple elimination format. The top four teams advance to varying stages of the playoffs — first-placed to the quarter-finals, second-placed to the second round, and third-fourth-placed to the first round of the knockout bracket.

Season 16 champions Vitality feature in Group C along with three other international sides

Group A is headlined by IEM Rio Major and BLAST Premier World Final winners, Outsiders and G2, who will be accompanied by another top-10 team in Cloud9 and a variety of top 30 teams from all over the world — fnatic, MIBR, Evil Geniuses, Eternal Fire, and IHC.

In Group B, Heroic are the top seed following their runners-up finish in Rio and title-winning campaign at the BLAST Premier Fall Final, and will be joined by MOUZ and FURIA as the headliners. BIG, Complexity, Imperial, SAW, and Movistar Riders round out the second group.

Four international teams feature in Group C — FaZe, Vitality, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and OG — along with two Brazilian representatives in 00NATION and paiN and two Australian teams, Grayhound and Rooster.

Liquid are currently the highest-ranked team of Group D, and will be joined by Natus Vincere, ENCE, Spirit, Astralis, ATK, FORZE, and Rare Atom.

Group distribution

Group A (Feb 22)

Group B (Mar 1)

Group C (Mar 8)

Group D (Mar 15)

Opening matchups

Group A

Outsiders vs. IHC
MIBR vs. fnatic
Cloud9 vs. Evil Geniuses
G2 vs. Eternal Fire

Group B

Heroic vs. Movistar Riders
BIG vs. Complexity
Imperial vs. FURIA
SAW vs. MOUZ

Group C

FaZe vs. Rooster
paiN vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
OG vs. 00NATION
Vitality vs. Grayhound

Group D

Liquid vs. Rare Atom
ATK vs. ENCE
Spirit vs. Astralis
Natus Vincere vs. FORZE

gl hf

2023-01-27 14:38

1 reply

ez for my kings G2

2023-01-27 14:45

2023-01-27 14:39

I cant wait to see rooster vs faze!

2 replies

Match of the year mens))

2023-01-27 14:42

true

2023-01-27 15:08

faze vs cocks banger matchup

bring Bymas back to T1 pleaseee

Gonna be EZ for the BaitF and Devve duo

G2’s era is coming

G2 first lose coming ez for EF

2023-01-27 14:40

The two iberian teams in the same group :/

2023-01-27 14:41

7 replies

Portugal cheers for spain?

2023-01-27 14:43

6 replies

When a portuguese team is not in an event and a spanish team is, yes i support spain teams

2023-01-27 14:49

It wasn't always like this, but i guess people understood we need eachother for the scene to improve. Edit:Tagged the wrong person. My bad

2023-01-27 16:26

Dont worry

2023-01-27 17:56

In CS yes, it's one scene basically

2023-01-27 15:04

as much as spain cheers for portugal whenever they are not playing against each other

2023-01-27 15:26

This

2023-01-27 17:57

5 cis teams in 2 different groups smh

probably bc they add cis to europe

2023-01-30 02:09

nah, epl doesn't use regions for seeding - only their own rankings. just unfortunate

2023-01-30 08:28

Complexity is in both group A and group B? Ayo?

2023-01-27 14:44

both aus teams in the same group too kind of a weird distribution

3 replies

AU vs AU is the only way an AU team will win a match

2023-01-27 14:46

ikr, Big need their one free win, they cant beat Saw or Moviestar :(

2023-01-27 14:47

Br vs Br too, like always

2023-01-27 16:47

G2 EZ

FEAR THE COCK 🐓

bro why Greyhoound and Roster in the same grooupe?

Here we go - Cloud9 lower bracket run after meeting G2

complexity in group a and b o_O?

2023-01-27 14:48

Yeah ok wtf didnt see that haha

2023-01-27 14:50

poor rooster

Finally Some decent groups

8 replies

group a is way more stacked than any other tho

2023-01-27 17:15

Not really i like there are some other teams this time and not the same boring

2023-01-27 17:17

You high? Group C is way more stacked

2023-01-27 19:10

5 replies

faze vit og vs outsiders c9 fnatic g2

2023-01-27 20:19

hltv.org/ranking/teams/2023/january/23 C also have Nip and Pain, 00 >> Eg, EF

2023-01-27 20:53

NiP is shit and all the other tier 5 u listed doesnt matter anyways also flag EG,EF>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>PAIN,00

2023-01-27 21:17

pain and 00 how better than ef and eg looool

2023-01-27 22:46

2023-01-28 05:14

didnt like this format it's more entertaining when you face off every team of your group

i like it weak teams like rooster wont be wasting everyone's time after 3 looses in a row, but i dont like that u may get lucky with a bracket and go straight to quater-finals, skipping 2 play-off rounds. I know in some circumstances it was still possible to make it through after 3 cosecutive losses, but I don't remember this happening at least once

2023-01-27 15:03

Navi last season

2023-01-27 15:11

75 Games in a Month like bro wtf

2023-01-27 16:14

Who the fuck made the decision that double elimination group stage is a good for the league type of thing? Two matches and you're out, this isn't even a league now.

2023-01-27 14:51

true, same shit with ECL. But I like giving the chance for teams from Asia, OCE, etc qualify

2023-01-27 14:52

triple*

2023-01-27 14:55

Yeah, but that last chance thing is a mess anyway. To me it's more logical and straightforward to run a usual round robin. Everyone plays everyone. Doesn't matter if fucking Rooster gets 0-2'd 7 times, it's going to be better for the game and for the players. Make it two separate streams if necessary, nobody will get hurt by that.

2023-01-27 14:59

Bruh, how did Australia get 2 teams?

2023-01-27 14:53

1 month between group A and playoffs Imagine playing playoffs without warmup

2023-01-27 14:54

ofc we have furia x imperial as usual haha

Damn we were robbed of the endpoint navi rematch :(

time for niko to expose tier3 stat farmer xantares

2023-01-27 14:58

Rude…

2023-02-05 10:46

spectating after weaker teams always interesting. so sticking with 1st match

are these matches all bo3?

2023-01-27 15:00

Yes

2023-01-27 15:27

tnx good samaritan

2023-01-27 15:31

Aussies invading group C makes me happy

2023-01-27 15:01

average BR duel

very weird format, but it might be interesting

Group A Outsiders fnatic C9 G2 Group B Heroic BIG Furia Mouz Group C Faze Pain OG Grayhound Group D Rare Atom ENCE Spirit Navi

2023-01-27 15:07

What is this group division lol :D 2 AUS teams in the same group 2 Iberian teams in the same group 5 CIS teams spread across only 2 groups

2023-01-27 15:29

it's based on rankings

2023-01-27 20:52

Imperial vs Furia Pog

Well at least, its not a elimination game

2023-01-27 19:05

very real possibility mouz go undefeated heroic is 50/50 then the rest is ez

2023-01-27 15:15

Don't worry Furia will make it fast and painless

2023-01-27 19:06

not in brazil=no furia win

2023-01-27 21:04

2023-01-27 15:18

Finally C9 in group A i dont have to wait so long

2023-01-27 15:23

c9 vs g2 bo3 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 two top2 russian awpers top1 rifler vs top3 rifler

2023-01-27 15:34

4 replies

Will happen yes or yes with this format? Even if they lose a match before?

2023-01-27 15:41

99.9 % this will happen, c9 against evil bots and g2 against turkish superteam in first round, imagine losing to them... NOT POSSIBLE (no offense tho to eg and ef fans <3) then c9 vs g2 HYPE HYPE HYPE, havent seen bo3 with these teams since cologne 2021

2023-01-27 15:50

C9 havent played for almost 3 months. And they changed player. Idk nowadays eg looks good maybe they have a chance..ı dont give a chance to ef but its cs who knows.

2023-01-27 17:23

nah bro, eg full trash, one fluke against heroic made people think that they are somwhat good. Niko vs Xantares will be interesting to watch, but i am afraid awp and igl difference is so big that ef dont have a chance, calyx and xantares wont win the game 2v5. Fnatic and ef will be fighting for 4th spot i think.

2023-01-27 22:44

Group C and D are ez groups for favourites. Group A looks like dead group. I enjoy watching these matches in this group. hf ef needs gl.

Is it tho? I think group d will produce the most upsets

2023-01-27 15:39

I don't think so, ATK and rare atom have no hope. Astralis is so bad with Buzz. forze plays with r3salt(former VP Prodigy) who is not ready for T1. I think top4 is clear. only navi can be upset because of new player npl.

2023-01-27 16:29

bruh Liquid are awful

ez4navi

bLitz the GOAT will show these noobs the real CS

2023-01-27 15:40

esl pro league 😴

2023-01-27 15:42

Furia vs Imperial Pog

2023-01-27 15:46