ESL Challenger Katowice groups revealed

Eight teams will fight it out for the lion's share of the $100,000 prize pool and a spot in ESL Pro League Season 18.

ESL has announced the groups for ESL Challenger Katowice, which is set to play out in the Polish city on June 9-11. The eight-team tournament will be split into two groups of four, playing out in a double-elimination format for the group stage. The event will then transition into a single-elimination bracket for the playoffs.

Snappi's ENCE come into the event as the favorites

ENCE headline the tournament team list and have been put into Group A, with their first match coming against South African minnows Bravado, who made the event through their national qualifier.

The second-highest-ranked team in the tournament Virtus.pro has also been put into Group A, with the Russian organization yet to announce their roster for the Polish event. Their opening match will come against Party Astronauts, a team that features the ex-EG White core.

Group B will give us a South American matchup in the first round of play, as paiN are set to face off against 9z. Rounding out the opening matches is a rematch of the recent CCT 2023 Online Finals 1 grand final between FORZE and ECSTATIC, where Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov and company will be looking to repeat the feat on LAN after claiming the title at the online event.

The groups for ESL Challenger Katowice are as follows:

Group A
ENCE
Virtus.pro
Party Astronauts
Bravado

Group B
FORZE
paiN
ECSTATIC
9z