Updated on: August 7 (added final results)

Gear to watch Europe's biggest esports event, IEM Cologne 2023 - it's set to be a historic one! Legions of fans will pilgrimage to Cologne as the Cathedral of Counter-Strike quakes to support their favorite CS:GO teams. Starting on July 26 with an overall $1 million prize pool, which of the 24 teams competing in IEM Cologne will showcase their legacy and make their mark in history?

IEM Cologne 2023 will earn a special place in the hearts of fans as the last edition of the event to feature the cult-classic CS:GO. Valve will steadily be transitioning the popular esports title into Counter-Strike 2 in the coming weeks, making its debut later this summer.

Below you'll find everything you need to know about IEM Cologne, including the exact dates, each team's player rosters, and match schedules.

IEM Cologne 2023: Format

IEM Cologne 2023 will consist of three stages. The initial Play-In Stage and Group Stage will be held behind closed doors, while the nail-biting Playoffs will be held in front of a live studio audience at the renowned LANXESS arena.

Play-In Stage (July 26 - 28)

• 16 team double-elimination bracket
• Opening matches are best-of-one; all following matches are best-of-three
• Top eight teams advance to the Group Stage

Group Stage (July 29 - August 1)

• Two double-elimination groups of eight teams each
• All matches are best-of-three
• Top three teams from each group (six teams in total) advance to the Playoffs
• Group Stage winners advance to the Semifinals, Runners-up advance to the Quarterfinals as High Seeds, 3rd-place teams are the Low Seeds

Playoffs (August 4- 6)

• Single-elimination bracket
• Quarterfinals and Semifinals are best-of-three
• Grand Final is best-of-five

IEM Cologne 2023: Playoffs Schedule

All times listed will be in ET, and match winners will be in bold. Future matches will be added closer to the time, so watch this space!

August 4 - Quarterfinals

• 9:30 AM - Cloud9 v Team Vitality
• 1:00 PM - Heroic v Astralis

August 5 - Semifinals

• 9:30 AM - ENCE v Team Vitality
• 1:00 PM - G2 Esports v Astralis

August 6 - Grand Final

• 10:00 AM - G2 Esports v ENCE

IEM Cologne 2023: Group Stage Schedule

July 29 - Upper Bracker Quarterfinals (Group A)

• 6:30 AM - Cloud9 v Fnatic
• 6:30 AM - GamerLegion v Monte
• 1:30 PM - ENCE v 9INE
• 1:30 PM - Heroic v The MongolZ

July 29 - 30 - Upper Bracket Quarterfinals (Group B)

• 10:00 AM (July 29) - G2 Esports v Astralis
• 1:30 PM (July 29) - MOUZ v Natus Vincere
• 6:30 AM (July 30) - FaZe Clan v Ninjas in Pyjamas
• 6:30 AM (July 30) - Team Vitality v OG

July 30 - Lower Bracket Qualifications (Group A)

• 6:30 AM - Cloud9 v 9INE
• 1:30 PM - GamerLegion v The MongolZ

July 30 - Upper Bracket Semifinals (Group A)

• 10:00 AM - Fnatic v ENCE
• 2:30 PM - Heroic v Monte

July 31 - Lower Bracket Quarterfinals (Group B)

• 6:30 AM - Astralis v Ninjas in Pyjamas
• 10:00 AM - OG v Natus Vincere

July 31 - Upper Bracket Semifinals (Group B)

• 6:30 AM - Team Vitality v MOUZ
• 10:00 AM - FaZe Clan v G2 Esports

August 1 - Lower Bracket Semifinal (Group B)

• 6:30 AM - MOUZ v Astralis
• 6:30 AM - FaZe Clan v Natus Vincere

August 1 - Upper Bracket Final (Group A)

• 1:30 PM - Heroic v ENCE

August 1 - Lower Bracket Final (Group A)

• 12:30 PM - GamerLegion v Cloud9

August 1 - Upper Bracket Final (Group B)

• 10:00 AM - G2 Esports v Team Vitality

August 1 - Lower Bracket Final (Group B)

• 1:30 PM - Astralis v Natus Vincere

IEM Cologne 2023: Where to watch

To cater for the undeniably passionate fans in the CS:GO fanbase, there are several streams available to cater for everyone, everywhere, on related ESL YouTube/Twitch channels in English-speaking countries, Spain, France, China, and Vietnam. There are even secondary streams to cover matches happening simultaneously! Witnessing history in the making, the primary English Twitch stream is available below.

ESL Counter-Strike

IEM Cologne 2023: Teams

Twenty-four of the best CS:GO teams will clash at IEM Cologne, eight of which are seeded straight into the Group Stage. Four slots are given to the winners of IEM Katowice, ESL Pro League Season 17, IEM Rio, and IEM Dallas, while the remainder is based on ESL World Rankings.

The remaining 16 teams will battle it in the initial Play-In Stage, determining the last eight groups to enter the main tournament.

Group Stage Teams

G2 Esports

G2 Esports earned their IEM Cologne Group Stage slot by winning IEM Katowice 2023. Their roster is proving to be hungry for victory, with strong players like NiKo and hUnter- fighting their corner.

• Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač
• Nikola "NiKo" Kovač
• Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov
• Justin "jks" Savage
• Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen

FaZe Clan

FaZe Clan fought tooth and nail for their IEM Cologne slot after winning ESL Pro League Season 17. They have had a storied history of success at IEM Cologne, having won the 2022 edition of the event.

• Håvard "rain" Nygaard
• Helvijs "broky" Saukants
• Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken
• Finn "karrigan" Andersen
• Robin "ropz" Kool

Team Vitality

Team Vitality is looking extremely successful coming into IEM Cologne, having won both the BLAST.tv Paris Major and IEM Rio to earn their automatic qualification into the Cathedral of Counter-Strike.

• Dan "apEX" Madesclaire
• Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut
• Emil "Magisk" Reif
• Lotan "Spinx" Giladi
• Shahar "flameZ" Shushan

ENCE

ENCE claimed the crown at IEM Dallas, rightfully earning their slot in IEM Cologne's Group Stage. Countless hours of practice have been put into their team; will they emerge victorious?

• Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer
• Paweł "dycha" Dycha
• Pavle "maden" Bošković
• Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia
• Guy "NertZ" Iluz

Heroic

While not winning any qualifying tournaments, Heroic is currently ranked first in the ESL World Rankings, with 1,935 points!

• Martin "stavn" Lund
• Casper "cadiaN" Møller
• René "TeSeS" Madsen
• Rasmus "sjuush" Beck
• Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard

Cloud9

As a fabled name in esports, Cloud9 are currently within the top 5 of the ESL World Rankings. Will they climb back to grace after IEM Cologne 2023?

• Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov
• Sergey "Ax1Le" Rykhtorov
• Abai "HObbit" Hasenov
• Denis "electroNic" Sharipov
• Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy

Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere, or NAVI, have a strong roster of players ready to bolster them up in IEM Cologne 2023, with the likes of s1mple making up their ranks. He has been voted one of the greatest and most accomplished CS:GO players of all time.

• Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev
• Valerij "b1t" Vakhovsjkyj
• Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen
• Justinas "jL" Lekavicius
• Ivan "iM" Mihai

GamerLegion

GamerLegion has refreshed their teams' roster before IEM Cologne 2023 - here's hoping their changes work in their favor!

• Isak "isak" Fahlén
• Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand
• Nicolas "Keoz" Dgus
• Sebastian "volt" Maloș
• Sanzhar "neaLaN" Iskhakov

Play-In Teams

ESL Gaming announced two teams would be unable to attend: paiN Gaming, have been replaced by Complexity Gaming and FORZE, which had Visa issues, has been replaced by OG.

MOUZ (ESL World Ranking EU)

• David "frozen" Čerňanský
• Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás
• Dorian "xertioN" Berman
• Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek
• Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo

Apeks (ESL World Ranking EU)

• Tim "nawwk" Jonasson
• Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad
• Martin "STYKO" Styk
• Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski
• Aleksandar "CacaNito" Kjulukoski

9INE (ESL World Ranking EU)

• Krzysztof "Goofy" Górski
• Kamil "KEi" Pietkun
• Kacper "Kylar" Walukiewicz
• Wiktor "mynio" Kruk
• Aleksander "hades" Miskiewicz

FURIA Esports (ESL World Ranking NA)

• Yuri "yuurih" Boian
• Andrei "arT" Piovezan
• Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato
• Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo
• Marcelo "chelo" Cespedes

Team Liquid (ESL World Ranking NA)

• Keith "NAF" Markovic
• Joshua "oSee" Ohm
• Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis
• Aleks "Rainwaker" Petrov
• Robert "Patsi" Isyanov

Imperial Esports (ESL World Ranking SA)

• Ricardo "boltz" Prass
• Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo
• Jhonatan "JOTA" Willian
• Henrique "HEN1" Teles
• João "felps" Vasconcellos

The Mongolz (ESL World Ranking AS)

• Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren
• Sodbayar "Techno4K" Munkhbold
• Chinguun "hasteka" Bayarmaa

Grayhound Gaming (ESL World Ranking OCE)

• Simon "Sico" Williams
• Joshua "INS" Potter
• Alistair "aliStair" Johnston
• Jay "Liazz" Tregillgas
• Declan "Vexite" Portelli

Fnatic

• Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson
• William "mezii" Merriman
• Fredrik "roeJ" Jørgensen
• Aurélien "afro" Drapier
• Christopher "dexter" Nong

Monte

• Volodymyr "Woro2k" Veletnjuk
• Serghij "DemQQ" Demchenko
• Szymon "kRaSnaL" Mrozek
• Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev
• Alexander "br0" Bro

Ninjas in Pyjamas

• Fredrik "REZ" Sterner
• Hampus "hampus" Poser
• Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin
• Danyyl "headtr1ck" Valitov
• Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke

Astralis

• Benjamin "blameF" Bremer
• Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz
• Christian Møss "Buzz" Andersen
• Victor "Staehr" Staehr
• Johannes "b0RUP" Borup

Into the Breach

• Thomas "Thomas" Utting
• Karol "rallen" Rodowicz
• Joey "CRUC1AL" Steusel
• Aurimas "Bymas" Pipiras
• Adam "NEOFRAG" Zouhar

Complexity Gaming

• Ioannis 'Johnny' "JT" Theodosiou
• Ricky "floppy" Kemery
• Michael "Grim" Wince
• Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli
• Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski

OG

• Nemanja "nexa" Isaković
• Maciej "F1KU" Miklas
• Iulian "regali" Harjău
• Nils "k1to" Gruhne
• Dion "FASHR" Derksen

BIG

• Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz
• Karim "Krimbo" Moussa
• Elias "s1n" Stein
• David "prosus" Hesse
• Efekan "S3NSEY" Topaloglu

Final Thoughts

That's all the information we currently have on IEM Cologne 2023. Follow this article to stay updated with match results and schedule changes.

Want more CS:GO content? We've got a guide to best crosshairs and the changes coming with Counter-Strike 2, including the tick rate system and responsive smoke grenades.