One of the most prestigious tournaments in Counter-Strike, IEM Katowice, is just around the corner. It will take place in the iconic Spodek Arena, where countless titans have clashed in the past. For 2025, eight teams have been directly invited based on the Valve Ranking System (VRS). The invited teams are as follows:

Group A

• G2 Esports
• Team Falcons
• Team Vitality
• FaZe Clan

Group B

• Team Spirit
• Natus Vincere
• MOUZ
• The MongolZ

The rest of the teams will have to compete in the brutal double-elimination Play-In stage of the IEM Katowice, which begins on January 29th and ends on January 31st. 8 of the 16 teams will qualify for the Group Stage, which starts on February 1st and runs until February 4th. Teams that advance from the group stage will compete in a 6-team playoff bracket at the Spodek Arena from February 7th to February 9th.

The Play-In teams are:

• FURIA
• Team Liquid
• Astralis
• paiN Gaming
• Eternal Fire
• MIBR
• Virtus.Pro
• 3DMAX
• Wildcard Gaming
• HEROIC
• BIG
• GamerLegion
• FlyQuest
• Complexity Gaming
• SAW
• Imperial FE

Furia will be looking to replicate their form from the last IEM event, IEM Rio, back in 2024. Image Credit: EWC

Roster Changes Heading Into IEM Katowice

Those who attended the Blast season-opening Bounty event will recognize most of the rosters. IEM Katowice's invite pool, which was limited to the top 24 rated teams, is essentially the same as the first 24 invited to Blast Bounty.

Most notably at IEM is G2's roster. Having lost their star rifler Nikola "NiKo" Kovač to the Falcons, they are expected to face a hard time with the addition of Israeli Nikita "HeavyGod" Martynenko in NiKo's stead. They had a rough showing at BLAST Bounty, where they lost against Eternal Fire and barely won against B8 and BIG.

The top-ranked team in the Play-Ins is Team Liquid. In a move welcomed by Liquid's supporters, the roster has substituted Guy "NertZ" Iluz for the long-suffering Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis. Their tournament run begins against Heroic, who previously defeated them in the season-opening Blast Bounty event.

After losing EliGE, Complexity has strengthened its roster by acquiring American players Nick "nicx" Lee and Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk. Since Complexity cannot replace EliGE's skill with another American player in 2025, the team will need to work together and put in more effort to make up for his loss.

The rosters for FURIA, MIBR, 3DMAX, Wildcard, and Imperial Fe remain unchanged from the previous season. They hope that maintaining a stable lineup will help them outperform rivals who are still refining their teamwork and protocols.

Although Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, a renowned Danish AWPer, has returned, Astralis has not formally updated their roster. The superstar showed excellent individual form at BLAST but was unwell and missed the Shanghai Major.

On the other end of the spectrum, HEROIC has undergone significant changes since their entire team was sold primarily to Falcons. The foundation of Heroic's new lineup is the Sangal core, which rose from tier-2 to the top 20 in 2024.

The MongolZ, who chose to forego Blast to prioritize player well-being, will make their season debut at IEM Katowice. The number of tier-one events has significantly expanded since Valve's tournament regulations took effect at the beginning of 2025, as other tournament organizers have returned to the market in an attempt to gain a share of the Counter-Strike scene.

Women's Counter-Strike at IEM Katowice

For the first time in Counter-Strike history, a female roster will compete in the main IEM event as Imperial Fe attends IEM Katowice.

Impact is now the primary women's league in Counter-Strike, and IEM Katowice used to host a women's only Challenge tournament, but that has since been discontinued.

Image Credit: ESL

As an IEM Katowice Stage 1 team, Imperial's "Valkyries" will get the opportunity to prove themselves, but in a double-elimination bracket rather than the Blast single-elim format, which gives them more leeway.

It's interesting to note that Furia Fe, which was ranked 24th in the Valve Global Rankings on the invitation date, was also eligible. However, they can't accept their invitation because Valve forbids two teams from the same organization from attending the same event. This rule is meant to prevent conflicts of interest in competition. The beneficiaries were Heroic, who came in last because Sangal's core was then ranked 25th worldwide.

Where to watch IEM Katowice 2025?

IEM Katowice will mainly be broadcast on the ESL Twitch channel in English on the A and B streams. The same streams will also be available on YouTube here and here.

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Featured Image Credit: Spodek Katowice

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