FURIA and Staff Spirit headline ESL Professional League Season 23 invitations

FURIA and Staff Spirit are among the many groups which have accepted invites to compete at ESL Professional League Season 23.

Most notably, ESL Professional League Season 22 champion Staff Vitality is not going to defend its title after the organisation declined its invitation, together with Staff Falcons.

Because of Staff Vitality and Staff Falcons deciding to not compete, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Ardour UA have joined the 24-team line-up. These groups might be competing in on-line qualifiers from February twenty seventh to March ninth, 2026. The declines additionally imply Aurora Gaming and B8 will start the event in Stage 2 versus Stage 1.

FUT Esports has additionally secured an invite to the Professional League because of Lynn Imaginative and prescient serving a one-tournament ban from ESL-operated occasions. The Chinese language workforce withdrew from ESL Professional League Season 22 after the deadline, incomes itself a ban from the following ESL occasion.

Alongside FURIA and Staff Spirit, MOUZ, NAVI, and FaZe Clan are in attendance on the Tier 1 occasion. A complete of eight of the highest ten groups from January’s Valve Regional Standings (VRS) will compete in Stage 2 of the event’s on-line section.

Along with the invited groups, the winners of ESL Challenger League Season 50 and DreamHack Knockout have secured Professional League locations, incomes a chance to compete among the many world’s greatest groups.

With the absence of Staff Vitality and Staff Falcons, ESL Professional League Season 23 provides different groups a chance to carry a Tier 1 trophy. Eight of the 24 groups from the web section will qualify for the LAN finals going down in Stockholm, Sweden, from March thirteenth to fifteenth.

The total record of groups competing is as follows: