The Cathedral of Counter-Strike buzzes once more as 2024’s edition of IEM Cologne arrives. 24 teams descend on Germany for the lion’s share of a million dollars and the glory that comes with lifting one of the most coveted trophies in all of esports.
It’s been an exciting start to the Counter-Strike 2 season. NAVI kicked off with a win in Riyadh at the Esports World Cup, while the remainder of the top 10 battle through the BLAST Fall Groups. Many a team saw roster changes during the off-season, some of which—including Team Liquid—have already left quite an impression.
The road to the Shanghai Major shortens by the day, but IEM Cologne will see its top teams all but certainly lock in a spot in their region’s qualifier for the pinnacle event. Can G2 go back-to-back? Here’s everything you need to know about IEM Cologne 2024: Full schedule, results, streams, and more.
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IEM Cologne 2024 format and teams
IEM Cologne is one of CS2‘s premier tournaments featuring a whopping 24 teams, three stages, and a million-dollar prize pool. Winners will also secure a spot at IEM Katowice 2025, the BLAST Premier World Final, an Intel Grand Slam mark, and most likely enough Valve points to book a ticket to the Shanghai Major closed qualifiers.
Eight teams will start the event in the group stage, while the remaining 16 battle through the Play-In double elimination bracket. Win two best-of-threes, and the team heads to the group stage; lose two, and they’re out.
The group stage sees the eight Play-In teams join the group stage invites and play another double-elimination bracket. The upper bracket winner heads to the semifinals; the upper bracket runner-up and the loser bracket winner both begin their playoff runs in the quarterfinals.
From there, the remaining six battle through a single-elimination playoff bracket to the trophy in the Cathedral of Counter-Strike itself, the Lanxess Arena. Here are the qualified teams for IEM Cologne 2024 and their path to the tournament.
| Qualification method | Team(s) |
|---|---|
| Direct Qualification (Group stage) | Team Spirit FaZe Clan MOUZ G2 Esports Vitality NAVI Astralis Virtus.pro |
| ESL World Rankings | EU: HEROIC, Eternal Fire, Falcons North America: Complexity South America: 9z Team Asia: The MongolZ Oceania: FlyQuest Next-best ranked: Liquid, Imperial, FURIA, BIG, BetBoom, paiN, MIBR, SAW |
| German Qualifier | Alternate aTTaX |
IEM Cologne 2024 schedule and results
Play-In
All match times are in Central Time (CT).
Wednesday, Aug. 7
- 3:30am: FlyQuest vs. BIG | SAW vs. The MongolZ
- 6:30am: HEROIC vs. MIBR | BetBoom vs. 9z
- 9:30am: Complexity vs. Alternate ATTAX | Eternal Fire vs. Falcons
- 12:30pm: FURIA vs. Imperial | paiN vs. Liquid
The remaining IEM Cologne Play-In schedule will be added after the conclusion of the opening matches.
Group stage
All match times are in Central Time (CT).
The schedule for the IEM Cologne group stage will be added soon.
Playoffs
All match times are in Central Time (CT).
Friday, Aug. 16
- 8:45am: TBD vs. TBD
- Winner proceeds to semifinal, loser is eliminated.
- 12pm: TBD vs. TBD
- Winner proceeds to semifinal, loser is eliminated.
Saturday, Aug. 17
- 8:45am: TBD vs. TBD
- Winner proceeds to grand final, loser is eliminated.
- 12pm: TBD vs. TBD
- Winner proceeds to grand final, loser is eliminated.
Sunday, Aug. 18
- 10am: TBD vs. TBD
- Grand final (best-of-five).
IEM Cologne 2024 streams: How to watch
IEM Cologne 2024 CS2 will be streamed live on Twitch and YouTube. If you missed the action, spoiler-free replays will be uploaded to the respective channels at the conclusion of each matchday.
Below you’ll find links to both the primary and secondary streams. If you’re looking for alternate language options, head to Liquipedia’s streams section for more.
