End of an era: ESL makes shift away from Katowice, announces IEM Kraków

ESL's pinnacle "Hall of Heroes" event in Poland will move cities in 2026 as IEM Kraków is announced to take place from Feb. 6 to 8.

Katowice will no longer host the major ESL stop in CS2, with 2025's edition acting as a farewell to the Spodek Arena and over a decade of Counter-Strike history. Now, it's Kraków's turn with the larger TAURON Arena playing host to Intel Extreme Masters going forward.

ESL announced IEM's move from Katowice to Kraków on May 29. Alongside the location and venue, ESL confirmed the prizepool — a huge $1.25 million USD — with 24 teams booking their tickets to Poland in early February 2026.

Invited teams will be announced in the coming months with the bulk invited directly to the Kraków tournament. Tickets will also go on sale soon with several tiers of ticketing types released in waves.

"For almost two decades, Intel Extreme Masters has built a heritage full of emotional and defining moments in esports history," ESL's special projects vice president Michal "Carmac" Blicharz said in a statement.

"From the early days in Hannover to the rise of new legends in Katowice, every stop along the way has left its mark on our legacy. As we begin a new chapter of this story, we look forward to continuing it with the world’s best gamers and esports fans, as they add their mark in Kraków, on a bigger scale than ever before."

The high-profile move was hinted at last February when it was revealed PGL was set to host a tournament of their own in Kraków. However, a representative for the Municipality of Kraków put an end to PGL's plans, stating the city will instead host a "cyclical event which will take place in January for the next three years."

It was quickly established the event in question was IEM Katowice. ESL still showed great interest in holding the pinnacle tournament in Poland, with teams often saying the biggest IEM events like Katowice and Cologne ranked as highly in prestige as a Major Championship.

With a capacity twice that of Katowice's Spodek, the TAURON Arena and move to Kraków was always meant to be for ESL, with the event often sold out shortly after tickets went on sale.

There will be slight changes to the IEM event we know and love, with ESL still working through offerings outside of the Counter-Strike as the IEM Expo won't return with the event. However, expect an offering of booths from ESL's biggest partners in and around the much larger TAURON Arena.

Details surrounding February 2026's launch of IEM Kraków can be found in ESL's main page for the event. For more CS2 news stay tuned to esports.gg.