With Germany banning all large scale events until August in the wake of the Corona Pandemic, the ESL announced their plans for ESL One Cologne 2020.
The “cathedral” of Counter-Strike will have to remain empty this year. Following the example set by IEM Katowice earlier in the year, Cologne 2020 will be played in front of empty stands. While this preserves the LAN character of the event the fans that made Cologne one of the highlights of the Counter-Strike-Year will unfortunately have to cheer from home.
However that is no reason to despair if you already bought tickets for ESL One Cologne 2020 as the ESL announced that current tickets will remain valid for next year. So current ticket holders can look forward to July 16th to 18th in 2021. If you cannot make it to Cologne for those dates, ESL will provide refunds as long as you apply before year’s end.
Dear CS:GO Fans: We have an important update to share that concerns all attendees of #ESLOne Cologne and #IEM Melbourne this year. Due to the current global health situation, both live events have been rescheduled to 2021. All tickets remain valid. https://t.co/YYhMrSp5eH pic.twitter.com/fwFTjpR7u5
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) May 5, 2020
Although currently planning for a LAN event ESL also stated in their press release that if the situation arises a switch to an online format is being considered. Especially if travel restrictions would make it difficult for teams to attend in person.
Intel Extreme Masters Melbourne cancelled
Although ESL One Cologne has been hit hard by the restrictions the CS:GO-fans in Down Under suffer even worse. IEM Melbourne will be postponed in it’s entirety to August 2021. If you have already bought tickets for Melbourne you can either keep them or refund before the end of the year just like Cologne.
Are you still looking forward to ESL One Cologne 2020? Join the discussion on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or our Discord!