The ESL One circus returns to Southeast Asia with ESL One Bangkok, set to take place at the Royal Paragon Hall in Bangkok, Thailand. This $1 million Dota 2 tournament will feature 12 teams battling for supremacy in the capital city of Thailand, and is the first ESL One event of the 2024-2025 Dota 2 competitive season.
When is ESL One Bangkok?
ESL One Bangkok starts on December 9th, and will run until the 15th. It serves as the latest edition of the long-standing ESL One series, which itself is a Dota 2-focused brand of tournaments hosted by ESL.
The live audience will head to the Royal Paragon Hall in Bangkok from December 13th – 15th.
ESL One Bangkok format
The competition takes on a classic format built for 12 teams, with a group stage separating the field into two groups of six, and a double elimination bracket thereafter.
For the group stage, teams will play in a round robin format, each match being a best-of-two series. The top two teams from each group will be seeded into the upper bracket, while the two squads right under them will go into the lower bracket. The bottom two clubs will be eliminated immediately.
Then, the playoffs will proceed as normal. All matches in the bracket stage will be best-of-three sets, with the exception of the best-of-five grand final.
Who is Playing at ESL One Bangkok?
First off, four teams will be automatically invited based on their standing on the ESL Pro Tour (EPT) leaderboard. This leaderboard tallies the scores of every professional Dota 2 squad that has participated in an ESL event, based on their results in those tournaments.
Right now, only DreamLeague Season 24 has given out EPT points, so the top 4 teams coming out of there will be automatically invited to Bangkok this way. And these teams are Team Falcons, BetBoom Team, Team Spirit, and PARIVISION.
As for the rest, they’ll be coming from regional qualifiers. The following regions will be eligible to qualify for ESL One Bangkok:
- Western Europe
- Eastern Europe
- MESWA
- China
- Southeast Asia
- North America
- South America
| ESL One Bangkok Participants | ||
|---|---|---|
| Team Name | Region | Qualification |
| Team Falcons | WEU | EPT Leaderboard |
| BetBoom Team | EEU | EPT Leaderboard |
| Team Spirit | EEU | EPT Leaderboard |
| PARIVISION | EEU | EPT Leaderboard |
| Team Liquid | WEU | Qualifiers |
| AVULUS | WEU | Qualifiers |
| PuckChamp | EEU | Qualifiers |
| Nigma Galaxy | MESWA | Qualifiers |
| Gaozu | CN | Qualifiers |
| BOOM Esports | SEA | Qualifiers |
| Shopify Rebellion | NA | Qualifiers |
| beastcoast | SA | Qualifiers |
What is the Prize Pool Distribution?
$1 million in prize money will be distributed as follows:
- 1st place — $300,000
- 2nd place — $175,000
- 3rd place — $120,000
- 4th place — $85,000
- 5th/6th place — $57,500
- 7th/8th place — $47,500
- 9th/10th place — $30,000
- 11th/12th place — $25,000
Which Teams Have Won Previous ESL One Events?
ESL One has a rich history of Dota 2 teams taking the top spot. Fan favorite squads alongside some of the best rosters we’ve ever seen can boast about being ESL One champions. Some of these include defending International champions Team Liquid, the ever-dominant Team Falcons, the perennial major winners Gaimin Gladiators, and more.
Here are the winners of some of the more recent iterations of the long-standing series:
| ESL One Previous Winners | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Prize Pool | Peak Viewers | Winner |
| Birmingham 2024 | $1,000,000 | 328,345 | Team Falcons |
| Kuala Lumpur 2023 | $1,000,000 | 338,239 | Azure Ray |
| Berlin 2023 | $500,000 | 507,620 | Gaimin Gladiators |
| Malaysia 2022 | $400,000 | 362,705 | OG |
| Stockholm 2022 | $500,000 | 589,021 | OG |
| Fall 2021 (Online) | $400,000 | 232,036 | Tundra Esports |
| Summer 2021 (Online) | $400,000 | 282,677 | T1 |
| Germany 2020 (Online) | $400,000 | 272,973 | Team Liquid |
| Thailand 2020: Asia (Online) | $135,000 | 122,264 | TNC Predator |
| Thailand 2020: Americas (Online) | $65,000 | Quincy Crew | |
| Birmingham 2020: Europe & CIS (Online) | $200,000 | 228,746 (all regions) | Team Secret |
| Birmingham 2020: China (Online) | $55,000 | PSG.LGD | |
| Birmingham 2020: Southeast Asia (Online) | $40,000 | Fnatic | |
| Los Angeles 2020: Europe & CIS (Online) | $200,000 | 508,082 (all regions) | Virtus.pro |
| Los Angeles 2020: China (Online) | $55,000 | Royal Never Give Up | |
| Los Angeles 2020: South America (Online) | $40,000 | beastcoast | |
| Los Angeles 2020: North America (Online) | $40,000 | Evil Geniuses | |
| Los Angeles 2020: Southeast Asia (Online) | $40,000 | Fnatic | |
| Hamburg 2019 | $300,000 | 225,561 | TNC Predator |
| Birmingham 2019 | $300,000 | 361,230 | Team Secret |
| Mumbai 2019 | $300,000 | 185,849 | Keen Gaming |
| Katowice 2019 | $300,000 | 186,326 | Team Secret |
| Hamburg 2018 | $300,000 | 205,325 | Team Secret |
| Birmingham 2018 | $1,000,000 | 306,479 | Virtus.pro |
| Katowice 2018 | $1,000,000 | 308,456 | Virtus.pro |
| Genting 2018 | $400,000 | 225,022 | Newbee |
| Hamburg 2017 | $1,000,000 | 264,152 | Virtus.pro |
| Genting 2017 | $250,000 | 215,397 | Digital Chaos |
| Frankfurt 2016 | $314,545 | 145,667 | OG |
| Manila 2016 | $250,000 | 137,649 | Wings Gaming |
| New York 2015 | $286,622 | No data | Vega Squadron |
| Frankfurt 2015 | $296,203 | 142,720 | Team Secret |
| New York 2014 | $141,010 | No data | Vici Gaming |
| Frankfurt 2014 | $210,900 | No data | Invictus Gaming |
Where Can I Watch the Games at ESL One Bangkok?
As with most Dota 2 tournaments, you can watch all the action on ESL’s official Twitch and YouTube channels. As it stands, there will be three concurrent streams for ESL One Bangkok, presumably for the group stage games.
The following is a timetable for the start of each day, sorted by major time zones.
| Time Zone | Converted Time (from GMT+7) |
|---|---|
| Bangkok | 12PM, Dec. 9th |
| US Eastern | 12AM, Dec. 9th |
| US Pacific | 9PM, Dec. 8th |
| Brazil | 2AM, Dec. 9th |
| Central Europe | 6AM, Dec. 9th |
| United Kingdom | 5AM, Dec. 9th |
| Russia (Moscow) | 8AM, Dec. 9th |
