ESL reveals IEM Cologne 2025 invites

After the release of the official Valve ranking update for June, ESL has revealed the 24 teams that will be heading to IEM Cologne 2025 later this year. The Cathedral of Counter-Strike is back for another year, playing host to one of the most prestigious CS2 tournaments in the calendar.

Last year’s winners, Vitality, will be in attendance and will no doubt arrive as favorites given their form in 2025. Read on for more!

IEM Cologne 2025 teams revealed

Naturally, every team invited to compete in IEM Cologne 2025 has accepted their invitation. Its status in the game is near-unmatched, so we were never going to see anyone decline the opportunity to go to this one.

ALL 24 TEAMS INVITED TO #IEM Cologne 2025 ⚔️

The Cathedral of Counter-Strike is back.

🟡Stage 2
🔵Stage 1 pic.twitter.com/2LdyYeICf5

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) June 3, 2025

Of the 24 invited teams, the top eight will head straight to Stage 2. The remaining 16 teams will fight it out through Stage 1 in what is sure to be a bloodbath.

Out of all the invited teams, it’s exciting to see Ninjas in Pyjamas back in Tier 1. They’ve fought their way from the bottom, and good form at PGL Astana 2025 has earned them an invite to this event. See, the VRS can work.

Teams have until July 9th, 2025, to finalize their roster submissions, with the event beginning on July 23rd. You can find the full list of IEM Cologne 2025 teams below:

IEM Cologne 2025 Stage 1 Teams

• GamerLegion
• FaZe Clan
• Astralis
• 3DMAX
• HEROIC
• Team Liquid
• Virtus.pro
• FURIA
• Complexity
• TYLOO
• MIBR
• B8
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• BIG
• paiN Gaming
• FlyQuest

IEM Cologne 2025 Stage 2 Teams

• Team Vitality
• MOUZ
• Team Spirit
• Falcons
• The MongolZ
• Aurora
• G2
• NAVI