Imperial Fe becomes first women’s team to qualify for IEM Katowice

Imperial Fe has become the first women’s Counter-Strike team to qualify for IEM Katowice. The event, which will take place from January 29 to February 9, also marks the first time a women’s team has competed in an event that is part of the ESL Pro Tour Championship.

IEM Katowice, a Counter-Strike tournament organized by ESL FACEIT Group, features 24 teams competing for a share of the $1M prize pool. In addition to Imperial Fe, NAVI, Team Vitality and Team Spirit, winner of the Shanghai Major, are also participating. It should be noted that eight teams have earned direct passage to the group stage based on their position in the Valve Regional Rankings (VRS), as of January 6, 2025.

However, there are some noteworthy developments. ESL FACEIT Group noted that Team Falcons has been invited due to the acquisition of the majority of the roster of team HEROIC, ranked eighth in the VRS. In addition, Imperial Fe was not the only women’s team to reach the top 24 threshold. The 24th place finisher was FURIA Fe, but because the organization already had a team in the competition, the female roster was selected not to compete. In its place was HEROIC, which acquired the majority of Sangal Esports’ roster (25th in the VRS ranking).

After placing 23rd, Imperial Fe has qualified for the knockout stage of the competition. Teams qualify in a best-of-three (BO3), two-round playoff, with the top eight advancing to the group stage.

Imperial Fe has enjoyed much success since the organization returned to women’s Counter-Strike in May 2024. At November 2024, it won the sixth season of the ESL Impactwhich brought him $50,000 in prize money.

IEM Katowice is part of the Intel Grand Slam, a prize offered to the first team to win four out of ten consecutive events organized by the ESL. Team Spirit won the 2024 IEM Katowice, defeating FaZe Clan in the Grand Final. Both teams will compete in the 2025 edition.

IEM Katowice 2025

IEM Katowice is held in Katowice, Poland, with the qualifiers taking place at the city’s 11,000-seat Spodek Arena. The tournament series, sponsored by Intel, has been running since 2007 with events across Europe and North America.

The full list of participants in IEM Katowice 2025 is as follows:

• G2 Esports
• Team Spirit
• The Mongolz
• Team Vitality
• FaZe Clan
• MOUZ
• NAVI
• Falcons Team
• Team Liquid
• FURIA Esports
• Pain Gaming
• MIBR
• 3DMAX
• Eternal Fire
• GamerLegion
• Complexity
• SAW
• BIG
• FlyQuest
• Astralis
• Wildcard Gaming
• Virtus.Pro
• Imperial Faith
• HEROIC

In addition to Counter-Strike, IEM has also hosted tournaments of the real-time strategy (RTS) title StarCraft II. ESL FACEIT Group has not yet confirmed whether IEM Katowice 2025 will again host a tournament of this title.