IEM Kraków 2026 Announcement Trailer

11 Comments

  1. The associated website confirms that this replaces Katowice from here on out.

  2. Vitosi4ek

    Makes a lot of sense. In the last 10 years CS has grown massively as an esport and, frankly, outgrew the glorified convention center/concert hall that is the Spodek. Lately the difference in atmosphere between it and the Lanxess was far too evident. If ESL wanted its winter event to feel as big as its name and history implies, it had to at least match Cologne in terms of grandiosity and visuals, and Krakow has a huge, modern arena that’s already hosted a CS Major before.

  3. schoki560

    good decision to move the tournament out of katowice.

    Krakow as a city is so much better and the spodek itself also is kind of outdated at this point

  4. filous_cz

    I will miss kato

    But also fuck ESL on how they handled this – first they screwed out PGL who were planning on running a 2027 Krakow event just before the Kato timeslot, and then we were learning from leaks that 2025 Kato was the last one, while it was live. They should have been upfront and give it a proper sendoff.

  5. Glass_Post8946

    Unless you are a mayor of Katowice you should be happy with this replacement. Bigger city, better arena and better commutes

  6. No more Katowice , that’s rough. apEX must be happy that he won it in the last ever Katowice

  7. thornierlamb

    No one is going to talk about how esl fucked PGL over by preventing them from hosting in krakow anymore? We are so doomed..

  8. SkyburnerTheBest

    Wow I expected them to use the english name “Cracow”, like they are doing with “Cologne”, but they actually kept “Kraków” that’s nice!

  9. imsorryken

    Cool! I can’t believe the scene just keeps growing, who would have expected that 20 years ago.

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