ESL One: Road to Rio CSGO groups breakdown along with schedule

ESL has finally revealed the full groups and a schedule for the ESL One: Road to Rio tournament. This tournament was announced after the ESL One: Rio major’s postponement to November due to the coronavirus. The pandemic has led to the more traditional minor tournaments in CSGO being completely scrapped. The Road to Rio tournament features 56 teams in their respective regions awarding points to qualify for the major in Brazil.

ESL One: Road to Rio groups

Biggest groups

There are a total of six groups with a varying number of teams and prize pools depending on the region. Europe, CIS, and North America boast the largest prize pools and the most teams. Here they are below.

Europe is definitely the richest and most exciting group to watch. Boasting an array of top 10 teams such as Astralis, FaZe Clan, and mousesports, this group will be a blast to watch. Europe group also has the largest prize pool at $115,000. The European group will start on April 22.

The North America group boasts the second-largest prize pool at $60,000 and kicks off on April 22 alongside Europe. Much like Europe, CSGO fans should also keep an eye on this group, as it has numerous fantastic teams such as Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, and 100 Thieves.

The CIS group is not far behind the NA group in terms of the prize pool, standing at $50,000 with twelve teams as well. Everyone’s eyes will be on Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and his currently #1 team, Natus Vincere. There are, however, other notable teams in this region such as the renewed Virtus.pro or Winstrike. Also, there are two tiebreaker team slots present, which will be awarded to Nemiga Gaming, 1WIN, or PRO100. CIS action starts on April 30.

Smaller groups

The three remaining groups at ESL One: Road to Rio have much smaller prize pools and a much smaller number of participating teams. Here they are below.

Asia group is headlined by none other than TYLOO, which has been quite dominant on the Asian CSGO scene. Unfortunately, having eight teams, the prize pool sits at an extremely small $10,000. The two tiebreaker slots go to either JIJIEHAO, D13, or Beyond Esports. This group will start as one of the last, on May 6.

The final two groups, South America and Oceania, show the smaller amount of teams participating, with only four per region. They also share the same amount of money in the prize pool at $10,000. Apart from Renegades, the teams here appear to be the weakest out of all the groups. The one tiebreaker slot on South America will be occupied by either Pain Gaming or Imperial Esports. South America CSGO action kicks off on April 22 alongside NA, while Oceania joins Asia on May 6.

What do you think of the groups for ESL One: Road to Rio? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments. As always, remember to follow us at Daily Esports for all your latest news in CSGO as well as other major esports out there.