ESL has announced changes to the format of the its Pro League finals, starting with the upcoming event in Brazil.

From October 26-30, ESL will host in São Paulo the offline finals of the fourth iteration of the Pro League, with the first two days behind played behind closed doors, while the last three days will be played in front of a live audience at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera indoor sports arena.

The new format, which was decided by the WESA Player Council, sees the number of teams increased from eight to 12, with both regions qualifying six sides for the event.



Pro League finals expanded to 12 teams

The tournament will begin with a best-of-one round robin group stage, followed by a single-elimination, best-of-three bracket. Both group winners will go straight to the semi-finals, while the second and third-placed sides will play in the quarter-finals.

"The initial plan for a LAN-final with 8 teams felt out-dated," said Viktor "vuggo" Jendeby, the chairman of the WESA Player Council. "The scene is now more competitive than ever, and so it feels natural to extend a tournament of this caliber to enable more teams to attend the finals. "We also suggested more guaranteed LAN-matches for the teams attending, and proposed a format with 2 groups of 6 - like it is used at IEM events. "ESL listened and we, the WESA Player Council, are very happy with how the new format looks like, and I hope the community will appreciate it as well."

Below you can find a provisional schedule for the event: