IEM Katowice completes long-rumored move to Kraków, ending 11 year stay in iconic CS city

ESL have today announced that IEM Katowice, one of the jewels in Counter-Strike's crown, will be moving to a new city for 2026 and beyond, with the event moving to Poland's second-largest city Kraków. The significant change in the Counter-Strike landscape will see the event move from Katowice's Spodek and into Kraków's Tauron Arena — a move ESL hopes will increase the scale and scope of the tournament while offering a larger venue.

With this change, IEM Kraków joins IEM Cologne as the two events in ESL's two Pro Tour Championship events, which are needed to win the ESL (formerly Intel) Grand Slam. The Tauron Arena previously played host to the PGL Major Kraków 2017 and was set to be the site of another PGL event before being knocked off the calendar by ESL's overlapping Kraków event.

Michal Blicharz, VP Product Development at ESL FACEIT Group released the following statement on the move:

"For almost two decades, Intel Extreme Masters has built a heritage full of emotional and defining moments in esports history. From the early days in Hannover to the rise of new legends in Katowice, every stop along the way has left its mark on our legacy. Today, as we begin a new chapter of this story, we look forward to continuing it with the world’s best gamers and esports fans, as they add new pages to it in Kraków, on a bigger scale than ever before."