ESL has announced that it has suspended rule 2.12.1.1 ahead of IEM Katowice, allowing Virtus.pro, Liquid and Renegades to play with their new signings at the event.

According to the rule, players who have competed in a qualifier for one team are ineligible to play for another team in any other stage of the tournament.

This would render Virtus.pro's Michał "⁠MICHU⁠" Müller, Liquid's Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic and Renegades' Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad all ineligible for the event after they played for different teams in the qualifying stages.

NAF will be allowed to play for Liquid in Katowice

In a statement, ESL revealed that, "after discussing the matter", it has suspended the rule "for this particular event", allowing these teams to compete "with their new lineups".

"The intention behind the rule is to counteract frequent and hostile roster-changes, to ensure more affluent teams can't poach talent from lesser affluent teams and to encourage stability within the professional scene," ESL adds. "However, in its present iteration the rule severely limits the talent pool for teams that need to switch players in the time-frame between a qualifier and the main event."

After the event, which will run February 27 to March 4, ESL will review the ruleset about player transfers and see if it can "better the system and offer flexibility to teams."