ESL Pro League Season 24 to be played entirely on LAN with fewer teams

ESL Pro League Season 24, the second EPL tournament of 2026, will run entirely on LAN in the iconic city of Katowice, Poland.

This is a significant change, as the tournament won't feature an online phase like EPL S23. But, in order to host the entire tournament on LAN, ESL is reducing the number of teams from 24 to 16.

EPL S24 will run from October 3rd to 11th. Twelve teams will receive an invite based on the Global Valve Regional Standings (VRS), and the remaining four teams will be the winners of each region's ESL Challenger League S51.

The tournament will offer a $1 million prize pool, and the 16 teams will battle through a Swiss group stage. The top eight will advance to the single-elimination playoffs. All matches are best-of-threes, except for the grand finals, which will be a BO5.

With this effort of hosting EPL entirely on LAN, the tournament will have significantly more weight than in recent editions, which saw the teams competing in a more laid-back, studio setting.

But, it remains unclear whether this format will carry on for 2027, as ESL mentioned that it will "continue to explore options for future seasons of ESL Pro League."

"This includes gathering community feedback, interfacing with participating teams and players, and ultimately what makes for an exciting competition in the end," ESL said.