Another duo of participants in ESL Pro League Season 22 has been announced — a tournament with a prize pool of $1,000,000, which will be held in Stockholm from September 27 to October 12, 2025. M80 (North America) and HOTU (Asia) have earned their spots in the tournament. Both teams will start in Stage 1, where they will face teams that have passed through regional qualifiers and the VRS ranking.
M80 — a comeback after setbacks
M80 , the team, has had a difficult journey. In the closed qualifiers, the team lost to Getting Info in the upper bracket, but rallied for a rematch in the grand final. M80 defeated their opponents in the decisive match and took the last North American slot in the league.
This is a major breakthrough for an organization that, after a series of unsuccessful performances in 2024, changed its roster, bet on young players, and is now returning to the big stage.
HOTU — to the Asian league via Europe
The story of HOTU is even more interesting. It is a team, which, due to its registration in the European VRS rating system, was not eligible to participate in the qualifiers directly. However, the team circumvented this restriction by making it to the open Asian qualifiers.
In the final round, HOTU defeated The QUBE, SemperFi, Chinggis Warriors, and IHC , losing only one map out of five. Thus, the team became a sensation in the region, knocking out several favorites and securing a slot in the tournament in Stockholm.
This is particularly interesting in light of changes in the ESL's regional distribution — HOTU is one of the first “cross-regional” teams to play in one region but qualify through another.
Who else can we expect to see at the tournament?
There are two slots left in ESL Pro League S22:
The European closed qualifier has already determined the top 8 teams that will compete for a spot. Tags such as Liquid and ENCE have already been eliminated from the competition.
The South American qualifiers will begin on Wednesday, July 16 — ODDIK , Bestia , and Imperial are considered the favorites, but young teams also have a chance to break through.
A total of 32 teams will participate in the tournament, competing in two stages of the group round, followed by a lower bracket playoff.
Context: what awaits HOTU and M80 ?
HOTU will be participating in a world lan of this level for the first time, and the tournament in Sweden will be a serious test. It is not yet clear whether they will play with the same roster, as HOTU players have already received offers from European clubs.
For M80 , this is a chance to finally break out of the region. In 2024–2025, the team did not show consistent results in the ESL Challenger, but support from the organization, coaching staff, and s1n 's experience could be key factors in the Pro League.
