The Intel Extreme Masters, a highly competitive tournament circuit for the game CS:GO, will begin its year with the IEM Katowice 2023 on February 1. 24 teams from around the world will compete in Katowice, Poland for a $1 million prize pool and the title of IEM champion. Of the 24 teams participating, only 8 have qualified for the main event (Group Stage and Playoffs) so far. The remaining 8 teams will be determined through a tournament called Play-Ins, which will include 16 teams.
Format
The IEM Katowice 2023 Play-Ins will use a double-elimination bracket format. The initial 8 matches will be best-of-one, while all subsequent games will be best-of-three. The top 8 teams will advance to the Group Stage, with 4 teams in each group.
Schedule
The Play-Ins for IEM Katowice 2023 will be a two-day event. By February 3, the top eight out of the sixteen teams will cement their spots for the main event, which is scheduled to begin the next day, February 4.
The opening matchups for CS:GO’s IEM Katowice 2023 Play-Ins are as such:
- FURIA vs. Permitta
- BIG vs. Complexity
- Fnatic vs. Evil Geniuses
- Sprout vs. OG
- Spirit vs. Grayhound Gaming
- MIBR vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
- ENCE vs. paiN Gaming
- IHC vs. Cloud9
ESL is yet to announce the complete schedule and timings for the IEM Katowice 2023 Play-Ins.
These are the opening matchups of #IEM Katowice 2023 
8 of these teams will advance to the Group Stage, the others will have to wait another year for a shot at making history in the Spodek Arena 
It all starts on February 1st!
Cheat Sheet: Play-In Stage of CS:GO’s IEM Katowice 2023
Teams
All 16 Play-In teams and their expected CS:GO rosters for the IEM Katowice 2023 are listed below:
Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Fredrik “REZ” Sterner
- Hampus “hampus” Poser
- Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin
- Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen (IGL)
- Danyyl “headtr1ck” Valitov
- Daniel “djL” Narancic (Coach)
Team Spirit
- Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov (IGL)
- Boris “magixx” Vorobyev
- Robert “Patsi” Isyanov
- Pavel “s1ren” Ogloblin
- Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov
- Sergey “hally” Shavayev (Coach)
Cloud9
- Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov (IGL)
- Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov
- Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov
- Abai “HObbit” Hasenov
- Timur “buster” Tulepov
- Konstantin “groove” Pikiner (Coach)
Complexity Gaming
- Ioannis ‘Johnny’ “JT” Theodosiou (IGL)
- Justin “FaNg” Coakley
- Ricky “floppy” Kemery
- Michael “Grim” Wince
- Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli
- Tiaan “T.c” Coertzen (Coach)
FURIA Esports
- Yuri “yuurih” Boian
- Andrei “arT” Piovezan (IGL)
- Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato
- André “drop” Abreu
- Rafael “saffee” Costa
- Nicholas “guerri” Nogueira (Coach)
The FREE expo returns to #IEM Katowice 2023!
Expo visitors will be able to experience the CS:GO & SC2 championships on a first come first serve basis 
Read more here 
MIBR
- Raphael “exit” Lacerda (IGL)
- Matheus “Tuurtle” Anhaia
- Breno “brnz4n” Poletto
- Henrique “HEN1” Teles
- Felipe ” insani” Yuji
- Bruno “BIT” Lima (Coach)
IHC Esports
- Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren (IGL)
- Sodbayar “Techno4K” Munkhbold
- Baatarkhuu “Bart4k” Batbold
- Bat-Enkh “kabal” Batbayar
- Tengis “sk0R” Batjargal
- Tuvshintugs “ANNIHILATION” Nyamdorj
- Erdenedalai “maaRaa” Bayanbat (Coach)
Grayhound Gaming
- Simon “Sico” Williams
- Joshua “INS” Potter (IGL)
- Alistair “aliStair” Johnston
- Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas
- Declan “Vexite” Portelli
- David “Kingfisher” Kingsford (Coach)
OG
- Shahar “flameZ” Shushan
- Nemanja “nexa” Isaković (IGL)
- Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar
- Maciej “F1KU” Miklas
- Abdulkhalik “degster” Gasanov
- Casper “ruggah” Due (Coach)
ENCE
- Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer (IGL)
- Paweł “dycha” Dycha
- Pavle “maden” Bošković
- Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia
- Valdemar “valde” Vangså
- Eetu “sAw” Saha (Coach)
BIG
- Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz (IGL)
- Florian “syrsoN” Rische
- Josef “faveN” Baumann
- Karim “Krimbo” Moussa
- Nils “k1to” Gruhne
- Fatih “gob b” Dayik (Coach)
SPROUT
- Victor “Staehr” Staehr
- Laurențiu “lauNX” Țârlea
- Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss
- Ismail “refrezh” Ali (IGL)
- Adrian “XELLOW” Guță
- Danny “BERRY” Krüger (Coach)
paiN Gaming
- Vinícios “PKL” Coelho (IGL)
- Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt
- Wesley “hardzao” Lopes
- Romeu “zevy” Rocco
- Felipe “skullz” Medeiros
- Henrique “rikz” Waku (Coach)
Evil Geniuses
- Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte
- Timothy “autimatic” Ta
- Jadan “HexT” Postma
- Sanzhar “neaLaN” Iskhakov (IGL)
- Jerric “wiz” Jiang
- Daniel “Vorborg” Vorborg (Coach)
Fnatic
- Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson
- William “mezii” Merriman (IGL)
- Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi
- Fredrik “roeJ” Jørgensen
- Dion “FASHR” Derksen
- Jamie “keita” Hall (Strategic Coach)
Permitta Esports
- Patryk “OLIMP” Woźniak
- Rafał “sNx” Snopek
- Dawid “Layner” Falczyński
- Rafał “iso” Tync
- Mariusz “casey” Jarząb
The stage is set for #IEM Katowice 
Feb 1-3: Play-In Stage
8 teams advance, 4 to each group
Feb 4-7: Group StageTop 3 teams per group advance to the playoffs in the Spodek Arena! (Feb 10-12)
Which group is more stacked? Who’s joining them from the play-in stage?
Last Updated on January 27, 2023
U.S. Players Welcome 
