ESL decided to surprise its fans by saying that it will return to Katowice, Poland, in 2026. The tournament organizer will hold one of the most loved C2 events there, even though it decided to move IEM Katowice to another city in Poland – Kraków.
ESL Katowice 2026
In an announcement on X, ESL confirmed that it will host a Counter-Strike tournament in Katowice. Based on the information we have, the tournament will take place in the Spodek Arena. However, we do not yet have any information in terms of dates or the teams we will see. That’s why we recommend following Blix.gg for more details.
Keep in mind that ESL has already shared information about the upcoming 2026 CS2 calendar. Based on the details we have, the Intel Extreme Masters event circuit will be in the UK, China, Brazil and Krakow. Outside of that, ESL has not revealed any specific information about the ESL Pro League Season 23. There were rumours that the tournament will be in Europe, but will have to wait to see if this will be the case.
As for the tournament in Kraków, the city already has some experience with Counter-Strike events. Old-school fans may remember that the city welcomed an IEM competition in 2013. Following the announcement that it will welcome Europe’s IEM in 2026, the inaugural edition will take place between January 27 and February 8, 2026.
ESL’s Plans for Counter-Strike 2
Aside from the recent announcement about the returning event in Katowice, ESL made several other announcements. In a recent post, ESL announced it will give third-place matches to all of its competitions because of the Valve Regional Standings update. Keep in mind that the latter will become the sole determining factor in whether a specific team will compete at a given Major.
It’s safe to say that 2026 will be a big year for Counter-Strike fans. We expect to see a series of epic events, so we can’t wait to see what’s going to happen.
