ESL Pro League leaves its usual regions for Saudi Arabia with $1.25m prize pool

Rituraj Halder Published May 5, 2026

We are finally getting a clear picture of what the 2027 Counter-Strike competitive calendar is about to look like. For the first time in a decade, the flagship ESL Pro League (EPL) is moving away from its usual stops in Europe, USA, and Brazil to the Middle East.

Why is EPL S25 being held in the Middle East?

If you’ve been keeping an eye on the scene after that massive 2022 acquisition, this news may not come as a surprise to you. In that year, Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group acquired ESL Gaming and FACEIT for a combined $1.5 billion.

After the move, it was only a matter of time for the tournament to head to the Middle East, and with Saudi Arabia’s recent push to build better infrastructure for esports, it couldn’t have been a better time for EPL to make its debut in the region.

ESL Pro League Season 25 is touching down in Saudi Arabia from March 6 to 14.

Massive financial backing

ESL has massive financial backing for this event, and it made it apparent with its bigger-than-ever prize pool. EPL S25 will feature a combined prize pool of $1,250,000. That’s a quarter-million-dollar bump from the most recent Season 23.

Prize breakdown:

• Player rewards: The champions will take home $125,000.
• Club share: In a move to improve stability for organizations, the winning club will receive a massive $240,000.
• The big picture: $11,450,000 total circuit funding is allocated for the 2027 ESL Pro Tour.

The format remains as brutal as it has always been. 16 teams will be taking part, but only eight make it to the do-or-die playoff stage.

Qualification and seeding for EPL 2027

ESL has confirmed that the Valve Ranking System (VRS) will be the main and only arbiter for entry and ranking.

The 16-team roster will consist of 12 Global VRS invites and 4 qualifiers from the ESL Challenger League Season 52 (spanning Europe, North America, South America, and Asia-Oceania).

Invites will be issued in early January 2027 and will be confirmed in February 2027.

Event Schedule:

• Arrival: March 4, 2027
• Media Day: March 5, 2027
• Tournament: March 6–14, 2027
• Departure: March 15, 2027

While Saudi Arabia hosts the Esports World Cup (EWC) and now the upcoming Esports Nations Cup (ENC), isn’t the most popular market for CS2 esports, and certainly nowhere close to the fanbase in Europe or North America. Therefore, this makes it an unusual country to host the EPL.

However, with the country’s recent investment into esports, that could be changing slowly. The EWC CS2 event last year happened in a packed studio, although, the Esports Foundation’s Superfan program, where select fans of different organizations were given fully paid tickets to attend the event, may have played a part.

Read also: T1 targets $1bn valuation, plans to leverage Faker and EWC expansion

Featured image credit: ESL FACEIT Group