Tournament organizers Elisa have announced the Elisa Masters Espoo 2022, a 12-team event with a $200,000 prize pool, taking place in Espoo, Finland. It will take place between November 16-20 and will see the playoffs stage be played at the Espoo Metro Arena, a venue primarily used for ice hockey capable of hosting an audience of around 7000. The city of Espoo is located in southern Finland and borders the city of Helsinki.
The tournament will be affiliated with the ESL Pro Tour and the winner will receive an invite to the Play-In stage of next year’s edition of IEM Katowice alongside the lion’s share of the prize pool.
ENCE are the first announced team to attend
The 12 teams will be divided into two groups and will compete in a classic round-robin stage from which six will advance into the playoffs. Two semi-final spots will be reserved for the winners of each group, while second and third-placed teams will face each other in the quarter-finals. The knockout stages will be played in front of the crowd and will be arranged in a standard, single-elimination bracket.
Eight of the teams participating in the event will be invited by the organizers, while the remaining four will qualify through the Elisa Invitational. ENCE were the first team to be invited to the tournament.
“We’ve actively organized esports tournaments since 2019 and this is thus far the greatest step in our esports endeavors. As a Finnish operator, we want to give Finnish players a path to international world-class tournaments,” Mika Lepistö, Elisa’s Director of New Business Development & Partnerships.
“Our EPT Championships, IEM Katowice & IEM Cologne, are designed to have top teams represented from all corners of the globe. With this addition, we continue to add to what makes these tournaments global spectacles within the CS:GO competitive calendar,” added Shaun Clark from ESL.
The current list of teams attending Elisa Masters Espoo 2022 is:
