ESL has confirmed all the teams directly invited to ESL Pro League Season 22, with Liquid being the most notable team to miss out on a confirmed spot at the tournament. After the most recent VRS update left Liquid out of contention for an invite, the reality of the team’s poor form throughout 2025 is finally coming back to haunt them.
Liquid could miss first ESL Pro League since Season 1
Currently sitting at 17th place in the Valve Regional Standings, Liquid are finally suffering the consequences of what has been a terrible year. Most recently, the team crashed out of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 0:3, departing without winning a single series. Despite adding siuhy earlier this year, the young IGL has been unable to sufficiently stop the rot, with both NAF and ultimate standing out as particular underperformers.
This latest round of invites is a brutal sign of the times. They won’t be directly invited to ESL Pro League Season 22, instead having to settle for a spot in the European Closed Qualifiers alongside teams like NIP, Fnatic, and ENCE. A sign of the times, indeed. If they don’t make it, it will be the first Season of ESL Pro League missed for Liquid since Season 1. They’ve been a mainstay, and that status is now in grave danger. It remains to be seen if Liquid will make any CS2 roster changes to try and climb their way up the VRS again and ensure the next round of invites looks a little better.
As for the rest of the ESL Pro League Season 22 invited teams, the full list can be found below:
ESL Pro League S22 Stage 1 Invited Teams
- FURIA
- G2
- GamerLegion
- HEROIC
- 3DMAX
- Virtus.pro
- Astralis
- B8
- NRG
- Fluxo
- Lynn Vision
- Rooster
ESL Pro League S22 Stage 2 Invited Teams
- Team Vitality
- MOUZ
- Team Spirit
- The MongolZ
- Team Falcons
- Aurora
- FaZe Clan
- NAVI
ESL Pro League Season 22 will be the last Season to hold its Playoffs in a studio environment. The tournament organizer has already promised a return to arenas from Season 23, which should help ESL Pro League re-establish itself as one of the premier events in the CS2 calendar.
