Hot on the heels of the PGL Major Copenhagen 2o24, PGL has announced its intention to join the competitive Counter-Strike circuit full-time. The tournament organizer has confirmed it will be hosting 11 tier-one tournaments across 2025 and 2026, not including any Majors it may also be chosen to host, including some overlap between other tournaments planned by ESL and BLAST.
Credit: PGL
Is there room for PGL?
With Valve’s announcement that Partner teams would no longer be allowed on the competitive Counter-Strike circuit, PGL feels the time is right to jump back into Counter-Strike. Over the last few years, PGL’s interaction with the scene has been restricted to Majors, but this is all about to change.
With PGL’s 11 announced tournaments, the Counter-Strike calendar just got a lot more packed. Because there is even some overlap between PGL tournaments and BLAST / ESL events, it’s possible some teams might have to pick which ones to attend. The planned PGL CS calendar is as follows:
2025:
- Tournament #1: February 10th – 24th
- Tournament #2: March 31st – April 14th
- Tournament #3: May 3rd – 19th
- Tournament #4: September 29th – October 13th
- Tournament #5: October 18th – November 3rd
2026:
- Tournament #6: February 16th – March 2nd
- Tournament #7: March 23rd – April 6th
- Tournament #8: May 2nd – 18th
- Tournament #9: August 3rd – 17th
- Tournament #10: September 28th – October 12th
- Tournament #11: October 19-November 2
That’s five events in 2025, before a further expansion to six in 2026. Despite the now-packed schedule, more competition drives innovation, resulting in a net positive for the scene. PGL clearly feels the same way:
“For the first time since 2016, PGL will be able to organize CS2 Tier 1, non-major tournaments, signaling the end of the era dominated by a few esports organizers who created a monopoly on the Counter-Strike market.”
While PGL didn’t give information beyond the initial dates, it stated that more details about the Counter-Strike 2 events will be shared in due course.
This article was originally published here
