Imperial Fe turns into first girls’s crew to qualify for IEM Katowice

Imperial Fe has grow to be the primary feminine Counter-Strike crew to qualify for IEM Katowice.

Happening from January twenty ninth till February ninth, the occasion additionally marks the primary time a girls’s crew has competed in an occasion that types a part of the ESL Professional Tour Championship.

IEM Katowice, a Counter-Strike event organised by ESL FACEIT Group, options 24 groups competing for a share of its $1m (~£817,450) prize pool.

Alongside Imperial Fe, the likes of NAVI, Workforce Vitality and Shanghai Main winner Workforce Spirit are additionally collaborating. Notably, eight groups have acquired a direct path to the group stage because of their place within the Valve Regional Standings (VRS).

Each crew has been invited based mostly on their VRS rating as of January sixth 2025. Nonetheless, there are some notable additions to level out. ESL FACEIT Group famous that Workforce Falcons has been invited because of buying the bulk roster of eighth-placed VRS crew HEROIC.

Furthermore, Imperial Fe was not the one girls’s crew to achieve the highest 24 VRS threshold. Inserting twenty fourth was FURIA Fe, nonetheless, as a result of organisation already having a crew within the competitors, the feminine roster was chosen to not compete. Within the crew’s place is HEROIC, which acquired the bulk roster of Sangal Esports (VRS rank 25).

Having positioned twenty third, Imperial Fe has certified for the Play-In portion of the competitors. Groups are positioned right into a best-of-three (BO3), double-elimination bracket the place the highest eight advance to the group stage.

Imperial Fe has achieved loads of success for the reason that organisation returned to the ladies’s Counter-Strike in Could 2024. In November 2024, it received ESL Affect Season 6, securing $50,000 (~£40,883) in prize cash consequently.

IEM Katowice types a part of the Intel Grand Slam, a prize provided to the primary crew that wins 4 of ten consecutive ESL-operated occasions. Any crew that achieves this objective is awarded $1m (~£817,450).

2024’s IEM Katowice was received by Workforce Spirit, defeating FaZe Clan within the Grand Closing. Each groups will probably be competing in 2025’s occasion.

IEM Katowice takes place in Katowice, Poland with the playoffs held within the metropolis’s Spodek Enviornment which holds as much as 11,000 folks. The event sequence, sponsored by Intel, has taken place since 2007 with occasions happening throughout Europe and North America.

The complete listing of IEM Katowice 2025 contributors are:

Along with Counter-Strike, IEM has additionally hosted tournaments in real-time technique (RTS) title StarCraft II. ESL FACEIT Group is but to substantiate if IEM Katowice 2025 will host a StarCraft II event.