Today, IEM Katowice 2020 will start off with it's Group Stages. The tournament will be held from 24-2 until 1-3, features a total of 16 participating teams, a prize pool of $500.000 and will be held in the Spodek arena in the Polish city of Katowice.

Group Stage:

The group stage of the event (running from February 24th until February 27th) features a two double-elimination format and BO3 matches with the top three teams from each group advancing to the playoffs:

• Group stage winners advance to the Semifinals
• Group stage runners-up advance to the Quarterfinals as the High Seeds
• Group stage 3^rd place teams advance to the Quarterfinals as the Low Seeds

Playoffs:

The playoffs (running from February 28th until March 1st) will feature a single elimination bracket, BO3 Semi- and Quarterfinals and a BO5 Grand Final.

Participating Teams:

• Fnatic (DH Masters Malmö 2019)
• Astralis (IEM Beijing 2019)
• mousesports (ESL Pro League S10 Finals)
• 100 Thieves (Invited)
• Evil Geniuses (Invited)
• Team Liquid (Invited)
• Natus Vincere (Invited)
• Ninjas in Pyjamas (Invited)
• Virtus.Pro (Invited)
• Team Vitality (Invited)
• FaZe Clan (European Qualifier)
• G2 Esports (European Qualifier)
• Mad Lions (European Qualifier)
• Cloud 9 (NA Qualifier)
• Renegades (Oceanic Qualifier)
• TYLOO (Asian Qualifier)

Prize Pool:

1st | $250.000
2nd | $100.000
3rd & 4th | $40.000
5th & 6th | $15.000
7th & 8th | $7.000
9th - 12th | $4.000
13th - 16th | $2.500

With IEM Katowice 2020 being one of the first 'promising' events of 2020, it will be interesting to see how the viewercount and anticipation grows after significant increases in playercount and international interest in the game.

Be sure to tune in yourself via one of the Twitch livestreams of ESL_CSGO or ESL_CSGOb.

Most information sourced from HLTV.org. For extra information regarding the event including accurate schedules, visit HLTV.org or the IEM website.