IEM Summer 2021: How to watch, teams, schedule and format

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At Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice 2021, we saw Gambit Esports make a spectacular run to win the title. This week, CS:GO esports fans are in for a treat, as the sixteenth season is about to get underway. We are, of course, talking about IEM Summer 2021, where 16 teams from across the globe will compete for their share of the $250,000 prize pool.

At the current Dollar to Rand exchange rate, that's roughly R3.4 million. For local CS:GO esports fans, we've also got some great news. Extra Salt, with two South African players and a coach, are one of the 16 teams competing. Here's what you need to know about IEM Summer 2021.

IEM Summer 2021 viewer's guide

From 3 June 2021, we will see the opening group stage matches of IEM Summer 2021 take place. Teams will be fighting it out for their share of the $250,000 prize pool at IEM Summer 2021, as well as a tonne of Pro Tour Points.

Prize pool distribution:

• 1st place - $100,000
• 2nd place - $42,000
• 3rd & 4th place - $20,000
• 5th & 6th place - $10,000
• 7th & 8th place - $6,000
• 9th to 12th place - $5,000
• 13th to 16th place - $4,000

The action begins with a Group Stage featuring two groups of eight teams each, following a GSL-Style format. The first matches in the group stage are best-of-one, with all following matches being best-of-three. The top three teams from each group advance to the IEM Summer 2021 playoffs. The winners advance to the semi-finals, while the runners up advance as the High Seeds of the quarter-finals, and the 3rd-place teams in each group advance to quarter-finals as the Low Seeds.

Group A teams:

• Gambit Esports
• Sprout
• Team Vitality
• Complexity
• Astralis
• FunPlus Pheonix
• Extra Salt
• G2 Esports

Group B teams:

• Heroic
• Imperial Esports
• Evil Geniuses
• Team Spirit
• OG
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Fnatic
• Virtus.pro

The Group Stage of IEM Summer 2021 is scheduled to run from 3rd to 6th June, while the Playoffs will start on 11th June and end on 13th June with the grand final.

Each day, the CS:GO esports action is scheduled to kick off at roughly 12:00 SAST (Midday) as this is a European tournament. For the Extra Salt fans out there, their first match is against G2 Esports at 13:10 SAST on 3 June.

You can watch all the IEM Summer 2021 action via the ESL CS:GO Twitch channel. There should also be a tonne of highlights on the ESL Counter-Strike YouTube channel for those who miss out on some of the matches.