The start of 2026 has been dominated by Vitality’s incredible form, but in their absence ESL Pro League Season 23 becomes a battle for best of the rest. From the perennial runners-ups in MOUZ to the next generation stars in FUT, there’s every chance for a surprise winner at this event. Here’s everything you need to know about ESL Pro League Season 23.
ESL Pro League Season 23 Teams
After three big events in a row, Vitality and Falcons have chosen to skip EPL, instead preparing for the final push for Major seeding at BLAST Open Rotterdam. But behind them, nearly every other top team will be battling it out in EPL’s online stages to make the LAN finals in Stockholm.
Stage 1 Teams
- PARIVISION
- G2
- Astralis
- FUT
- 3DMAX
- Liquid
- paiN
- NRG
- Passion UA
- HEROIC
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Legacy
- M80
- Monte
- Gaimin Gladiators
- SemperFi
Stage 2 Teams
- FURIA
- MOUZ
- Spirit
- Aurora
- NAVI
- TheMongolZ
- FaZe
- B8
ESL Pro League Season 23 format explained
Much like PGL Cluj-Napoca, and Stage 3 of the upcoming IEM Cologne Major, EPL will follow a best-of-three Swiss stage format. Both stages will feature 16 teams, The top eight teams from stage 1 will proceed to Stage 2, and the top eight from there will head to Stockholm for the LAN finals.
Unlike the other events though, ESL has brought back one of their classic seeding system, with each team ranking everyone else in their stage to determine a “power ranking” based seeding for the stage.
ESL Pro League Season 23 Stage 1 match schedule and results
Sunday, March 1, 2026
- HEROIC vs. NRG (11:30 CET)
- PARIVISION vs. SemperFi (11:30 CET)
- G2 vs. Gaimin Gladiators (14:00 CET)
- Astralis vs. Monte (14:00 CET)
- Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Legacy (16:30 CET)
- FUT vs. M80 (16:30 CET)
- Liquid vs. Passion UA (19:00 CET)
- 3DMAX vs. paiN (19:00 CET)
The schedule and results will be updated as the tournament progresses.
Where to watch PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
You can watch all the matches live on ESL’s official Twitch and YouTube channels:
