First female team in EPT Championship: Imperial Fe Earns IEM Katowice 2025 invite

ESL has announced the invite list for IEM Katowice 2025. The 24-team event will be the first in the ESL Pro Tour to follow Valve's open circuit guidelines and thus feature VRS-based invites. The invites are based on the Jan. 6 revision of the rankings, with the eight highest ranked teams starting in Stage 2. Imperial Fe made the cut for Stage 1, marking the first time a female team will compete at an EPT Championship event. The news comes on the heels of Imperial Fe also qualifying for an invite to the BLAST Bounty Season 1.

Starting off with Stage 2, the invite list nearly mirrors the recent Playoffs from PW Shanghai. Spirit, Vitality, NAVI and G2 headline the list. And notably, Falcons take over Heroic's invite slot thanks to the acquisition of the core featuring René "TeSeS" Madsen, Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski, and Abdulkhalik "degster" Gasanov.

FaZe will be bringing a new roster to the table, with their rumored signing of Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski yet to be announced. TheMongolZ and MOUZ round out the list, securing their invites thanks to their consistent seasons.

Imperial Fe's inclusion immediately stands out from the Stage 1 invite list for IEM Katowice 2025. The female team already made headlines by securing their berth at BLAST Bounty, but the news was met with some discontent among the community. Having secured their ranking points largely through the closed-circuit ESL Impact League, many believe Imperial Fe's inclusion to be undeserved.

Others, however, argue that despite being a relic of the now-defunct league system, Imperial Fe will bring a breath of fresh air and excitement compared to the run-of-the-mill 24th ranked team from Katowice past.

Stage 1's invite list also includes heavy hitters like Team Liquid and Furia leading the six-team strong Americas contingent. Eternal Fire and GamerLegion also make the cut, debuting their rosters with Samet "jottAAA" Köklü and Fredrik "REZ" Sterner, respectively.

That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for more CS2 news.