One of the most prestigious, historically beloved tournaments on the CS:GO calendar – ESL One Cologne, is under serious threat of postponement and even cancelation.
Developing obstacles created by the coronavirus pandemic mean that the event will almost certainly be affected one way or another. As Europe is slowly beginning to recover from the pandemic and some countries are announcing plans of resuming some social activities such as sports, there’s hope that ESL One Cologne will at worst be postponed to a later date, yet the danger of cancelation is certainly there.
No ESL One Cologne, no party
Perhaps the final nail in ESL One Cologne 2020 is already on its way. News of discussions surrounding the summer player break being pushed forward a bit might hit the tournament directly. As originally planned, ESL One Cologne is supposed to be the final high-tier event before the player break, which starts July 15.
The Counter-Strike Professional Players' Association, however, is making moves to change all that. Allegedly, the CSPPA is discussing with tournament organizers the possibility of the break starting earlier – on June 29, and finish earlier – July 31, instead of August 15. This interferes with the scheduled LAN finals of ESL One Cologne 2020, which are set for July 6-12 as of right now.
Another, much more serious problem standing in the way of the LAN finals, is the German government’s decision to restrict all major public events until the end of August 2020. This, of course, includes ESL One Cologne and raises further concerns as to how, when, and if the organizers will go ahead with the tournament.
The player break being moved is still in early discussions but if it goes through, Cologne will surely have to be rescheduled as well. Germany’s event policy makes it all the more clear that if that happens, we’ll either see ESL One Cologne 2020 materialize the coming fall at the earliest or we won’t see it at all this year.
