IEM Rio 2023 announced; ESL is going to Rio de Janeiro once more

ESL announced this Thursday that IEM Brazil will happen in Rio de Janeiro, in the Jeunesse Arena, the same stage where the playoffs of IEM Rio Major 2022 were played. The tournament will have the presence of a crowd only in the playoffs stage, which begins on April 21.

Entitled IEM Rio 2023, the tournament will have 12 teams participating, from various regions of the globe. They will fight for a total prize of $ 250,000, in addition to one spot at IEM Cologne 2023. Also, the title of this championship will count toward the run of the Intel Grand Slam Season 4.

IEM Rio 2023 will begin on the 17th of April and will run till the 23rd. The first stage will have the squads divided into two groups of eight teams each. The best six teams in this phase will qualify for the main stage, in Jeunesse Arena, where they will get to play in front of the insane home crowd of Brazil.

“Last year during the IEM Rio Major, the Brazilian crowd demonstrated such an enormous enthusiasm and passion as we have never before witnessed in esports,” said Shaun Clark, Senior Director Game Ecosystems - CS:GO at ESL FACEIT Group. “When we announced that we’d be returning to Brazil, we could already count on a lot of excitement from the community. IEM Rio 2023 is set for an intimate atmosphere and countless memorable moments. We can’t wait to enter the Jeunesse Arena again this year and do more in, and for, the region in the future".

The sales of tickets to IEM Rio 2023 will start on March 6th. They will be sold for three days of competitions, from 21st to 23rd April. Until this moment, ESL didn't reveal on which platform the sales will go live, but the organizer promised more detail on their social media soon.

Contrary to what happened during IEM Rio Major 2022, ESL chose to remove the public presence for the first stage of the tournament. Another change is the fact that this time, Alexandre "Gaules" Borba won't have a fan fest happening at the same venue, competing for public attention.

Of the twelve spots in the tournament, only two are left open and four Brazilian teams are competing for them, trying to join FURIA. In the North America Qualifier for the tournament, MIBR, paiN Gaming, and Complexity are still in the fight for one of the spots. As for the South America Qualifier, 00Nation, Fluxo and 9z are still on the run.

Until this moment, those are the confirmed teams for IEM Rio 2023:

The two last teams of the tournament will be defined this Thursday. Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest CS: GO news and updates.