StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 was the last CSGO Major Championship till now. Everyone knows what happened after that. The COVID-19 pandemic started and strict-lockdown started in almost every country in the world. This year’s first Major was decided to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil within the month of May. However, because of the pandemic, ESL announced that the May 2020 CSGO Major in Rio de Janeiro had been rescheduled to 19-22 November.
According to ESL, the May Major’s prize pool will be added to the November Major. Therefore, the November Rio Major will have a $2,000,000 prize pool. Moreover, all the tickets purchased for the May Major will remain valid for the November Major.
Although ESL was hoping that all the teams will at least play in the empty arena, this is not likely going to happen because Brazil has the 2nd highest number of COVID-19 cases and there are ongoing travel restrictions all over the world. Even, ESL has announced that the ESL One Cologne 2020 will also be an online event. The ESL One Cologne 2020 North America and Europe both will start online from 18th August.
Valve introduced Regional Major Ranking or RMR in the month of April as a completely new qualification system for the November Major as the May Major had to be canceled. That’s why all the teams are now changing their teams and buying new players to get prepared for the RMR tournament that will select the Rio Major participants.
Today we are outlining how teams will qualify for the November Rio Major. To ensure that the Rio Major features the top teams in the world, we will require that current Legends and Challengers demonstrate that they are still in top form. More here: https://t.co/waoiarL0e1
— CS:GO (@CSGO) April 2, 2020
ESL declared that they are continuously communicating authorities in Rio for the November Major, however, they can’t really say anything yet. In an interview, Christian Lenz, the manager of BIG, said that there won’t be any Rio Major. Numerous fans are also requesting to move the upcoming Major Championship from Brazil.
At that moment, it is really hard to assume if there will be a Major this year or not. This year is not getting tough only for CSGO fans, but also for the teams and organizers. With the rising number of COVID-19 will Brazil be able to host the CSGO Major 2020? Is it going to be the same as the previous Majors? What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
