For the third year in a row, during the Intel® Extreme Masters World Championship in Katowice, Poland the best women’s Counter-Strike:Global Offensive teams will take the stage to battle for the title of Intel® Challenge Katowice champions and a share of the $30,000 prize pool. ESL, in cooperation with Intel and AnyKey—an advocacy initiative dedicated to supporting diversity and inclusion in esports—is committed to creating more opportunities and inclusive esports spaces, while advocating for the underrepresented members of competitive gaming communities.
Eight women’s CS:GO teams from across Europe and North America will play in the Intel Challenge on March 2-3, 2017 during the second weekend of the IEM World Championship. The group stages of the tournament will be held on Thursday, March 2, 2017 with the playoffs on Friday, March 3, 2017.
Invited Teams
Two teams from Europe and two teams from North America will be directly invited to the Intel Challenge Katowice 2017. Invitations will be announced in the coming weeks.
Qualifiers
Three online qualifiers will determine the final four participants of the Intel Challenge Katowice. The schedule for the upcoming tournaments is as follows:
- January 28-29 – EU Qualifier #1 – 2 slots
- February 4-5 – EU Qualifier #2 – 1 slot
- February 4-5 – NA Qualifier #1 – 1 slot
IEM returns to Katowice, Poland, for the fifth year in a row with the 2017 World Championship, bringing the 11th season of the longest running esports circuit in the world to its conclusion. The elite gaming competitions will span two consecutive weekends for the first time, with League of Legends on the main stage February 25 – 26, and CS:GO and StarCraft II competitions on March 3 – 5 in addition to the IEM Expo.
Tickets to IEM Katowice 2017 are free of charge, but early bird tickets are on sale now. Follow IEM on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on the latest World Championship news and follow AnyKey on Twitter and Facebook for more information on inclusivity and diversity in competitive gaming.
