The groups and first match-ups for ESL One Cologne have been announced.

The $300,000 tournament taking place in Cologne, Germany will kick off on July 3rd with 16 teams separated into two groups. The action will last until July 8th.

The group stage will have a double-elimination format with best-of-one opening matches. All the other games during the group stage will be best-of-threes.


Astralis will take on ENCE in their first group match
The top three sides from both groups will advance to the playoffs. The first team in the group will qualify for the semi-finals while the second and third placed squads book their tickets to the quarter-finals.

Group A features Astralis, mousesports, and Natus Vincere while FaZe, MIBR, and Liquid headline Group B. The full group draw can be found below:

Group A
Denmark Astralis
Sweden NiP
Finland ENCE
United States Cloud9
Europe mousesports
France G2
Kazakhstan Gambit
CIS Natus Vincere
Group B
Europe FaZe
Australia Renegades
Singapore B.O.O.T-d[S]
Brazil MIBR
Sweden fnatic
Germany BIG
Denmark North
North America Liquid
The initial match-ups in the group stage will be as follows:

Denmark Astralis vs. Finland ENCE
Sweden NiP vs. United States Cloud9
Europe mousesports vs. Kazakhstan Gambit
France G2 vs. CIS Natus Vincere

Europe FaZe vs. Singapore B.O.O.T-d[S]
Australia Renegades vs. Brazil MIBR
Sweden fnatic vs. Denmark North
Germany BIG vs. North America Liquid