In a commentary on X, Ulrich Schulze, SVP Game Ecosystems at ESL FACEIT Group, said:

“Ensuring that teams do not participate in overlapping event qualifiers, meaning they cannot attend both events, is not about limiting opportunities or additional work for ESL administrators. It's about fairness to all teams participating in the qualifiers.

“If a team participated in both qualifiers, won one of them, and succeeded or advanced far in the other qualifier, it would be unfair to any team they beat in qualifying for an event they ultimately did not participate in. Simply inviting the second-place team would not solve this problem.

“I understand how this can be a source of frustration for the affected teams, but they would be just as frustrated if they were on the other side of the situation I described above.”

READ MORE: Chinese qualifying attracted a record number of teams on their way to RMR in Shanghai

Team rosters and qualification schedule

The team rosters for the North American closed qualifiers at IEM Rio and ESL Challenger Atlanta were finalized after the conclusion of the open qualifiers.

FLUFFY AIMERS and LAG join the invited teams Liquid and Legacy in the fight for a place in Rio, while NRG and Party Astronauts will meet Nouns and Wildcard for a chance to play on home soil in Georgia, USA.

ESL Challenger Atlanta is scheduled for October 4-6, and IEM Rio for October 7-13, which does not leave enough time for the teams playing in the first event to make it to the second.

However, the closed qualifiers in North America for these tournaments do not overlap and are scheduled for August 29-30 and August 31-September 1, respectively.

READ MORE: BLEED strengthening their positions, TSM on the verge of failure - results of qualification matches at RMR Shanghai Major

Criticism from teams and players

Instead of allowing teams to try to qualify for both tournaments and, in the case of qualifying for both, forcing them to choose between them, ESL has obliged teams to choose the qualification they want to participate in. This applies to both invited teams and those that have passed through open qualifiers.

NRG and Party Astronauts made it through the open qualifiers for both events, but were forced to choose which closed stage they would participate in. In the second open qualification for Rio, a third-place match was held to determine an additional replacement team before the Party Astronauts' decision.

ESL's decision has sparked dissatisfaction and criticism from teams and players in North America, as it further limits the already limited opportunities for new teams to participate in international tournaments, especially since both events are held in the Americas region.

Team composition for the qualifiers

Qualifiers for Rio:

• Liquid
• Legacy
• LAG
• FLUFFY AIMERS

Qualification for Atlanta:

• NRG
• Wildcard
• Party Astronauts
• Nouns