ESL has announced the first-round match-ups for the closed qualifiers for the Minors across four different regions.

The qualifying process for the Minors will continue later this week with the closed stage, featuring a double-elimination, best-of-three bracket. Half of the 96 slots were filled through invites, while the other half went to the leading teams of the open stage, which ran between January 31 and February 16.

The top eight teams in each of the four regions (Europe, the Americas, the CIS and Asia) will secure entry into their respective Minor, which will be held from April 26 through May 2 in Rio de Janeiro.

fnatic could face Dignitas in the second round of the bracket

Three-time Major champion and current No.4 team in the world fnatic headline the list for the Europe closed qualifier. The DreamHack Masters Malmö face the prospect of an all-Swedish clash in the second round against Dignitas if they manage to beat SMASH, featuring former fnatic member Joakim "⁠disco doplan⁠" Gidetun. Meanwhile, OG will be taking on Heretics in a reunion of former LDLC teammates Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt and Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey.

The CIS closed qualifier will open with a mouth-watering clash between two big names in the region, HellRaisers and Winstrike, who are separated by just two spots in the rankings. forZe and Spirit, the highest-ranked teams in the CIS, will be optimistic about their chances of a strong start after being paired with SpeedRunners and SG.pro, respectively.

Over in the Americas, the South American qualifier features a last-minute replacement following the withdrawal of DETONA, who will be taking part in this week's FLASHPOINT Global Qualifier, in Los Angeles. Replacing them will be another Brazilian team, Imperial, who will be facing Sharks in the opening round of matches.

Below you can find the match-ups for the first round:

Europe

Europe (March 7-8)

Eight slots at the Europe Minor available

Americas

North America (March 7-9)

Six slots at the Americas Minor available

South America (March 3-5)

Two slots at the Americas Minor available

CIS

CIS (March 5-6)

Eight slots at the CIS Minor available

Asia

China (March 7-8)

Two slots at the Asia Minor available

Southeast Asia (March 7-8)

One slot at the Asia Minor available

East Asia (March 4-6)

Two slots at the Asia Minor available

Oceania (March 7-8)

Two slots at the Asia Minor available

Middle East (March 5-7)

One slot at the Asia Minor available