The first IEM event of 2022 will be in Katowice, Poland, with $1,000,000 on offer. Twenty four teams will face off in the Spodek arena to do battle at the first stop on the ESL Pro Tour. Read our preview of IEM Katowice 2022.
What is the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM)?
The Intel Extreme Masters, commonly referred to as IEM, is one of ESL’s two top-level tournament circuits. Typically, each event offers a prize pool of over $250,000 and features 16 teams or more competing. IEM events are part of the ESL Pro Tour, with each situated at the Masters level or above.
IEM Katowice, also known as the World Championship, has a $1,000,000 prize pool and will be the first Masters-level tournament on the ESL Pro Tour in 2022.
- Read more: How does the ESL Pro Tour work?
IEM Katowice odds
The odds below represent the opening matches for IEM Katowice. For a complete list of odds for IEM Katowice, head over to our CS:GO section.
IEM Katowice 2022 odds
Insightful CS:GO Articles
Event previews, strategy articles and all the latest odds
Follow Pinnacle EsportsIEM Katowice 2022 – tournament format
IEM Katowice 2022 is split into three stages: Play-in, Group stage, and Playoffs.
During the Play-in stage, 16 teams will play in a double-elimination format with each opening matching played as a Best-of-One (Bo1) and the other remaining matches during this stage played as a Best-of-Three (Bo3). Eight teams will earn a qualification spot to the Group stage.
The Group stage will again see 16 teams divided into two groups, with the top three teams from each group earning a spot in the last stage of the tournament, the Playoffs. Matches are played as a Bo3.
For the Playoffs, matches will be played as Bo3 with the exception of the Grand Final which will be played as a Best-of-Five (Bo5). The top two teams from the Group stage will receive direct invites to the semi-finals while the rest will be seeded into the quarter-final. The winner will walk away with 10240 EPT points and $400,000 in prize money.
Who are the teams to watch at IEM Katowice?
1. NAVI
As the most recent CS:GO Major champion, NAVI will have a target on their back at IEM Katowice. The undisputed best team in the world hope to continue their dominance at the apex of CS:GO competition. The team have held onto the top spot since the end of July and have managed an impressive 73.3% win rate over the past three months. Star player Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev will be the player to watch in NAVI with the 24-year-old Ukrainian in sharp form with a 1.37 HLTV rating.
2. Team Liquid
Following a rebuild in the winter off-season that saw the team replace Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Jake “Stewie2K” Yip, and Michael “Grim” Wince with Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella (returning from VALORANT), Richard “shox” Papillon, and Josh “oSee” Ohm, Team Liquid will be making their first appearance in a major tournament together with their current line-up. Based on their individual talents and the track record of “nitr0” as an In-Game Leader, the team should perform well at Katowice; however, how well is still up for dispute given the calibre of the teams they’ll be facing.
3. G2 Esports
Similar to Team Liquid, G2 Esports made some key changes to their team in the off-season. They moved François “AMANEK” Delaunay to the substitute bench (replacing him with Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov) and traded Nemanja “nexa” Isakovic for Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen. The international team look to be in strong form heading into IEM Katowice, having beaten the likes of Complexity, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and MIBR at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups tournament. Much is still unknown about how the team will perform at the top level but the early signs indicate that the team look competitive.
4. Team Vitality
The final team to watch at IEM Katowice 2022 will be Team Vitality. Like many of the others already discussed, Team Vitality enter the tournament with a fresh look to their roster. They have added Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Emil “Magisk” Reif ─ both from Astralis ─ with those players replacing “shox” (who has moved to Team Liquid) and the benched Jayson “Kyojin” Nguyen Van. The team, who for much of 2021 were on the coattails of NAVI at the top of the world rankings, will be hoping that the addition of the two CS:GO Major winners from Astralis will be what puts the team over the edge and finally earns the organisation a coveted Major trophy.
IEM Katowice will start on February 15 and last until February 27. All the action can be found on ESL's Twitch channel.
