The ESL Pro League Season 14 tournament, which was supposed to take place in Malta, will be held entirely online due to international travel restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. All twenty-four teams that will take part in it (their full list should be determined soon) will play remotely, while in Europe.
The organizers mentioned that this tournament will be held “in different conditions compared to IEM Cologne.” They point to the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus in Europe and a lack of local government support as the main reasons why the tournament is returning online after the major event in Cologne was held largely without problems.
ESL representatives also noted that they are still working to ensure that the remaining two major events of this year are held in the LAN format. This is IEM Fall, scheduled for the end of September — the beginning of October, and IEM Winter, which will take place in the first half of December in Asia.
ESL Pro League Season 14 should start almost immediately after the end of the summer break in competitions: the tournament will begin on August 16 and will last until mid-September. 12 partner teams will take part in the competition, as well as 12 teams, which will be determined by the results of regional qualifying tournaments and their place in the ESL ranking.
