Today, the ESL Faceit Group announced 2026 ESL Pro Tour Masters Events (also called IEM events) for Brazil, the USA, and China, along with details about the dates, prize winnings, formats, and how they’ll fill team slots for them.
The first of the three will be the Intel Extreme Masters Brazil 2026, which will take place from April 13 to April 19, 2026. Other dates include the arrival date (April 11, 2026), the media day (April 12, 2026), and the departure date (April 20, 2026).
The team Slot Distribution will be as follows:
- 1st to 11th place at the Global VRS Invite
- 1st place at the North America VRS Invite
- 1st place at the South America VRS Invite
- Two from a Global Closed Qualifier
- One from a Closed Qualifier in the Americas
Intel Extreme Masters USA 2026 will have the same team Slot Distribution as above. However, IEM USA 2026 will go from May 11 to May 17, 2026. Other dates include the arrival date (May 9, 2026), the media day (May 10, 2026), and the departure date (May 18, 2026).
Intel Extreme Masters China 2026 will take place from November 2 to November 8, 2026. Other dates include the arrival date (October 31, 2026), the media day (November 1, 2026), and the departure date (November 9, 2026).
The team Slot Distribution will be a bit different for IEM China 2026:
- 1st to 10th place at the Global VRS Invite
- 1st place at North America VRS Invite
- 1st place at South America VRS Invite
- 1st place at Asia VRS Invite
- Two from a Global Closed Qualifier
- One from a Closed Qualifier in Asia
Global Qualifiers will include 12 teams from the Global VRS list, along with four other teams from the prior Open Qualifier. It will be a double-elimination bracket with best-of-three maps.
Regional Qualifiers will include four teams from the Regional VRS list, along with four teams from the prior Open Qualifier. It will also be a double-elimination bracket with best-of-three maps.
The three ESL Pro Tour Masters Events in 2026 themselves will have two groups in a double-elimination bracket. The top three teams from each group will go to the playoffs, where they’ll compete in a single-elimination bracket (with a third-place deciding match).
All of the matches at this level will be best-of-three maps, though the Grand Final will be a best-of-five.
The winnings for the 2026 IEM Pro Tour Masters Events for Counter-Strike 2 is broken down as follows:
- 1st place: $125,000 prize money, $170,000 club reward
- 2nd place: $50,000 prize money, $120,000 club reward
- 3rd place: $30,000 prize money, $95,000 club reward
- 4th place: $20,000 prize money, $75,000 club reward
- 5th and 6th place: $12,500 prize money, $55,000 club reward
- 7th and 8th place: $7,000 prize money, $35,000 club reward
- 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th place: $5,000 prize money, $15,000 club reward
- 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th place: $4,000 prize money
More details about the exact locations for each of the competitions will come later.
