The iconic CS2 esports event opens the next competitive season — up to the Budapest Major 2025. Everything about CS2 IEM Cologne 2025 is here.
The previous Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) Major finished around a month ago in Austin, TX. It concluded the impressive first half of 2025 for Team Vitality: a seven-tournament streak. With CS2 Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2025 (IEM Cologne 2025) coming in late July, the community’s eyes are again on Team Vitality. Can they win one more in a row? Can anyone stop this roster?
Once again, we head to the cathedral of CS2 for another exciting event. Lots of matches in three tournament stages, $1,000,000 of the prize pool, triumphs and upsets — IEM Cologne 2025 is totally a lot of fun for CS2 fans!
How to watch CS2 esports matches from IEM Cologne 2025: Stream
The official YouTube channel of ESL Counter-Strike broadcasted the IEM Cologne 2025 tournament. You can watch the grand final stream right here as well.
All CS2 teams qualified for Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2025
The event consists of three stages, and two sets of CS2 teams join the competition at different times.
- Play-In stage starts on July 23, and 16 teams play in the double-elimination brackets. These participants qualified thanks to their VRS Global standings.
- Group stage matches start on July 23, and 8 teams with even higher VRS Global standings join those 8 that advanced from the Play-In brackets.
- Playoffs are from Aug. 1 to Aug. 3 — for the top 3 teams from two groups in the previous stage.
Play-In Teams | Play-In Teams | Group Stage Teams |
|---|---|---|
| GamerLegion | Astralis | Team Vitality |
| FaZe Clan | 3DMAX | MOUZ |
| HEROIC | Team Liquid | Team Falcons |
| Virtus.pro | FURIA | Natus Vincere |
| Complexity | TYLOO | Team Spirit |
| MIBR | B8 | The MongolZ |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas | paiN Gaming | Aurora Gaming |
| BIG | FlyQuest | G2 Esports |
Results: All CS2 IEM Cologne 2025 matches and final standings
In this section, you’ll find all the results from the CS2 esports tournament Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2025. 1xBet is the official betting sponsor of this event, so you can check out the odds on that platform.
Play-In
The 16 participants of this initial stage are split into pairs to play in the double elimination brackets. In the best scenario, they need two victories to advance to the groups. On the lower side, losers are eliminated from CS2 IEM Cologne 2025.
Four teams advanced to the Group stage from the upper brackets. GamerLegion had two clear victories: over Complexity and Virtus.pro. FaZe confidently defeated BIG but had some difficulties vs Team Liquid on Inferno.
NiP advanced to the next stage on Play-In Day 2 at IEM Cologne 2025 — the legendary org looks pretty good at the moment. After a tough win over FlyQuest, FURIA denied comeback attempts by Astralis and won their advancement match.
Five final advancement matches happened on Day 3 of IEM Cologne 2025 Play-In. Liquid defeated FlyQuest in a rollercoaster battle. 3DMAX survived a 22:20 game vs TYLOO and won the match. HEROIC eliminated Virtus.pro. Astralis managed to reverse good rounds of paiN Gaming and achieve victory.
Groups
When all the participants join the event, the 16 remaining teams are split into two groups. Again, we can witness double-elimination brackets. The top three teams from each group advance to the CS2 IEM Cologne 2025 final stage.
The MongolZ and Team Vitality are the first to advance to the IEM Cologne 2025 playoffs. Vitality got two clear victories on their way to the upper final: over Astralis and G2 Esports. The MongolZ defeated 3DMAX and Team Falcons.
The upper final decided the playoff seeding: the winners advance directly to the semifinal. Vitality earned a clear win against MongolZ, so they repeated the results from the Austin Major grand final.
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The final IEM Cologne 2025 playoff participants from Group A were decided in the lower final. FURIA defeated G2. During their brackets run, FURIA also eliminated Astralis and Team Falcons.
Two teams advanced to IEM Cologne 2025 playoffs from the upper brackets of Group B: the semifinal winners earned their guaranteed spots. MOUZ defeated NAVI, and Team Spirit won over Aurora Gaming.
The upper final of Group B was between MOUZ and Team Spirit. It was an extremely close match, with two overtimes — 22:19 in game 2. Spirit won, so they start the playoffs from the semifinal.
On the last day of the Group stage IEM Cologne 2025, we could witness three lower matches in this group. All were elimination, and only one team of four advanced to the playoffs.
NAVI eliminated NiP and FaZe, so they earn their quarterfinal spots — to play versus The MongolZ.
Playoffs
The top six teams at the CS2 esports event Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2025 play in front of the crowd in the final brackets.
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Grand Final |
|---|---|---|
| MOUZ 2:1 FURIA | Team Vitality 0:2 MOUZ | MOUZ 0:3 Spirit |
| The MongolZ 0:2 NAVI | Spirit 2:1 NAVI |
In the first quarterfinal, NAVI defeated The MongolZ. The first map, Inferno, was extremely close, and NAVI won only with three overtimes. On Ancient, NAVI got a great advantage in the first half, and The MongolZ could not complete their comeback attempt.
In the parallel brackets, MOUZ won over FURIA. The team exchanged games: MOUZ won on Train, and FURIA were better on Mirage. The decider map was also close, but MOUZ still celebrated victory here.
In the semifinals, Team Spirit defeated NAVI, and MOUZ broke Vitality's win streak.
The grand final between MOUZ and Team Spirit was rather one-sided. Spirit won on three maps pretty confidentaly.
Final standings at CS2 Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2025
Here are the final standings at this CS2 esports tournament: teams, their placements, and prize money.
Placements | Teams | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team Spirit | $400,000 |
| 2 | MOUZ | $180,000 |
| 3–4 | NAVI, Team Vitality | $80,000 |
| 5–6 | FURIA, The MongolZ | $40,000 |
| 7–8 | G2 Esports, FaZe Clan | $24,000 |
| 9–12 | Team Falcons, 3DMAX, Aurora Gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas | $16,000 |
| 13–16 | GamerLegion, Astralis, Team Liquid, HEROIC | $10,000 |
17–20 | FlyQuest, Virtus.pro, TYLOO, paiN Gaming | $4,500 |
| 21–24 | B8, Complexity, MIBR, BIG | $2,500 |
Talent on the stream and at the venue
Check out the table below for all the talent covering CS2 IEM Cologne 2025, both on stream and live at the venue.
Position | Talent |
|---|---|
| Stage Host | Eefje "Sjokz" Depoortere |
| Desk Hosts | Freya "Freya" Spiers Tres "stunna" Saranthus |
| Analysts | Janko "YNk" Paunović Joshua "steel" Nissan Jason "moses" O'Toole Jacob "Pimp" Winneche |
| Commentators | Alex "Machine" Richardson Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill Hugo "Hugo Byron" Byron Harry "JustHarry" Russell |
| Commentators (2nd stream) | Neo "Ne0kai" Caine Harvey "Skriv" Rodgers Garret "Phy " Schier Cole "xner" McHenry |
The next big CS2 esports event is BLAST Bounty Fall 2025. It happens from Aug. 14 to Aug. 17. Right after it, you can witness the CS2 Esports World Cup 2025 event from Aug. 20 to Aug. 24.
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