ESL have announced the dates for the 2023 editions of IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne, with the two $1,000,000 offline events scheduled to take place between January 31-February 12, and July 25–August 6 respectively.
The dates effectively mean that the Polish LAN will occur two weeks earlier than its 2022 edition, while the event in Germany will run over two weeks later compared to the previous year’s iteration.
IEM Cologne will now take place after the summer break
Next year’s edition of IEM Cologne will fall in the latter part of the 2023 season for the first time due to the CSPPA’s changes to the official summer tournament break which moved the interval a month earlier compared to previous years. The body stated in July that the decision to run the break between June 12-July 9 was made in order to split the year into two more even seasons.
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CSPPA: Official summer break to take place one month earlier in 2023
In the announcement, ESL also confirmed that the two tournaments will be hosted by their iconic venues, with IEM Katowice coming back to the Spodek Arena for the eleventh time in its history, while the seventh edition of IEM Cologne will return to the LANXESS Arena.
“It’s always an honor to invite fans back to two of the most recognizable esports events worldwide,” commented Shaun Clark, Senior Director Game Ecosystems – CS:GO at ESL FACEIT Group. “We are already bubbling with excitement as we begin the annual planning to host two of the most passionate esports events,” it continued.
The schedule for the two events will be:
IEM Katowice 2023
January 31-February 1 – Play-In Stage
February 2–5 – Group Stage
February 10–12 – Playoffs
IEM Cologne 2023
July 25–26 – Play-In Stage
July 27–30 – Group Stage
August 4–6 – Playoffs