ESL reveals the "Road to Rio"

ESL has revealed the "Road to Rio," which is how teams will go about qualifying for the Major. Road to Rio will be the first qualifier event for ESL One Rio 2020.

The coronavirus epidemic has seen to a major rescheduling for the first CS:GO Major of 2020. ESL One Rio 2020 was initially scheduled to take place on May 11 – May 24, 2020, but was rescheduled to November 9 – November 22, 2020. This change left many questions surrounding the teams that would be attending the event since qualifiers for the Minors had concluded. Now, ESL has released its Road to Rio and how teams can qualify for ESL One Rio 2020.

Fifty-six teams across CIS, Europe, South America, North America, Oceania, and Asia will compete for RMR points and a prize pool of $255,000. These qualifying matches will begin on April 22 and run through May 17.

Here is how the team slots for each region will breakdown:

Europe

• Teams: 16
• Prize Pool: $105,000
• 10 teams advance

CIS

• Teams: 12
• Prize Pool: $50,000
• 5 teams advance

North America

• Teams: 12
• Prize Pool: $70,000
• 6 teams advance

South America:

• Teams: 4
• Prize Pool: $10,000
• 1 team advances

Oceania:

• Teams: 4
• Prize Pool: $10,000
• 1 team advances

Asia:

• Teams: 8 (Greater China: 2, SEA: 3, Middle East: 1)
• Prize Pool: $10,000
• 1 team advances

Here is the schedule:

Europe: April 22

Asia: April 22 

South America: April 22

North America: April 22

Oceania: April 23

CIS: April 30

It is also stated that all teams that had previously qualified for the Major and the Minors will take part in this competition. The format for the Road to Rio will be a round-robin group stage, then transition into a playoff format. All series will be best of three.