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ECS Season 3 start date and open qualifiers details announced

Zorine Te
Astralis were the winners of ECS Season 2. (ECS)
Astralis were the winners of ECS Season 2. (ECS)

The dates for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Esports Championship Series Season 3 have been confirmed, the company announced today.

The first ESC Open Qualifier starts on Saturday February 18, with one bracket for North American teams and one bracket for European teams. The top two teams in each qualifier will earn a place in the ECS Development League.

The second Open Qualifier will run February 25-26, and the top two teams in each event will also place in the Development League. The ECS Open Qualifier matches will be single elimination up until the quarterfinals and semi-finals, which will be best-of-three matches.

The ECS Development League will feature four teams from the North America region, four from the Europe region, and four invited teams. The teams who place in the top two spots in each region can then go on to battle against last season’s relegation teams for a chance to take their spots in ECS Season 3. The relegated teams for Europe are Virtus.Pro and Fnatic, and Team Solomid and compLexity for North America.


The ECS Season 3 Development League schedule is as follows:

Opening Rounds – February 28 – March 16
Best-of-two matches with four invited and four qualifying teams. Top 2 teams progress to ECS Promotional Playoffs.

ECS Promotion Playoffs – March 25-26
Best-of-five matches between top two ECS Developmental League vs ECS Season 2 relegated teams from each region. Winners qualify for ECS Season 3.

For more coverage of the CS:GO scene, be sure to check out Yahoo Esports’ CS:GO hub.

Follow Zorine Te on Twitter at @ztharli