Tournament operator ESL has officially presented the first participants of the upcoming IEM Sydney 2023 CS:GO tournament. The organizers have named the teams that received direct invitations.
At least three teams will represent Eastern Europe at the tournament - Natus Vincere, Cloud9 and Monte. Team Vitality, ENCE, FaZe Clan, G2 Esports, MOUZ, GamerLegion, fnatic and Grayhound have also received invitations.
Five more slots at IEM Sydney 2023 will be awarded to the winners of the qualifiers: two slots for the European qualifiers, while North America, Oceania and Asia each have one slot.
IEM Sydney 2023 will take place October 16-22 at LAN in Sydney, Australia. 16 teams will play for $250,000 of prize money. European qualifiers will take place August 23-25 online. Eight teams, including Ninjas in Pyjamas, OG, 9INE and Apeks, will participate in the qualifiers.
Prior to that, the professional CS:GO scene will host Gamers8 2023. The championship will be held August 16-20 at LAN in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 16 teams will fight for a million dollars of prize money.
Earlier, G2 Esports moved up to third place, while Cloud9 and Natus Vincere returned to the top 10 of the HLTV rankings.