The first online pre-qualifier for ESL One Cologne has come to an end, with 1337, ENCORE, INSHOCK and PiTER securing spots at the offline qualifier.

Over 300 teams from all over Europe competed in this single-elimination qualifier over the weekend for the chance to play at the offline qualifier for the upcoming major, on July 25-26.

In open tournaments, upsets do tend to happen quite frequently, and this qualifier was no exception as teams like Gamers2, LGB eSports and nerdRage all fell short.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the qualifier was the qualification of 1337 - who took part in this tournament with only two of their players as the remaining members are on vacation. With Miran "⁠dumz⁠" Matković, Benjamin "⁠BENDJI⁠" Söderena and Gustav "⁠KAB0M⁠" Runemalm as stand-ins, the Swedish team reached the last-four stage after moving past LGB by a 2-1 scoreline in the quarter-finals.



twist's 1337 through to the offline qualifier

Also coming from this pre-qualifier will be INSHOCK, PiTER and ENCORE. The quartet will be joined at the offline qualifier, which will be held inside ESL's esports arena, in Cologne, by five seeded teams plus seven teams determined by the second open pre-qualifier.

The list of participants for the ESL One Cologne European offline qualifier currently looks as follows:

Invited Qualified dignitas dignitas INSHOCK INSHOCK Titan Titan PiTER PiTER HellRaisers HellRaisers ENCORE ENCORE PENTA Sports PENTA Sports 1337 1337 FlipSid3 Tactics FlipSid3 Tactics

To sign up for the second open pre-qualifier, which will be held from June 29-July 2, teams can go here.