ESL announces IEM Rio invites; NRG, M80 decline Closed Qualifier invites

ESL released the list of teams that have accepted invites to attend IEM Rio, their third event of the year.

Some of the biggest teams will be there with Vitality, Falcons, Spirit, and more, all getting invites through the VRS Global Standings. Also in attendance are Passion UA, who snagged the North American invite, and FURIA, who claimed the South American invite.

Two of the remaining three spots will be decided through the global closed qualifier and the last spot will come from the Americas closed qualifier. North American teams M80 and NRG are notably absent from the Americas invite list, likely due to the qualifier being played on South American servers.

Here is the full invite list for IEM Rio:

Main event teams:

Global qualifier teams:

Americas qualifier teams: