IEM Brazil 2027 Confirmed for May 3-9 With $1,000,000 Prize Pool

ESL FACEIT Group have confirmed that the Intel Extreme Masters will return to Brazil in 2027, with the Counter-Strike 2 tournament set to run from 3 to 9 May and award a $1,000,000 prize pool. The event will feature 16 teams competing in a full LAN environment, though the host city has yet to be announced. It marks the fourth confirmed location on ESL’s disclosed 2027 competitive calendar.

We’re BACK. 🇧🇷

Today we’re happy to announce that the Intel® Extreme Masters will return to the Brasil in 2027!

The #IEM event in Brasil will be a part of the more than $11,450,000 allocated for teams and players in the 2027 edition of #ESLProTour! pic.twitter.com/8N4Y9s8QQZ

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 1, 2026

As of 2 July 2026, the city remains unconfirmed, but expectations point to a return to Rio de Janeiro, which hosted the IEM Rio Major in 2022 and standalone IEM Rio events in 2023, 2024, and 2026.

IEM Brazil 2027 Dates and Location

The tournament runs from 3 to 9 May 2027, with teams arriving on 1 May, a media day on 2 May, and departures on 10 May. ESL has confirmed the event will take place in Brazil but has not named the host city.

Rio de Janeiro is the widely expected venue given its established history with the circuit. The city operates a dedicated Games and Esports department led by Chandy Teixeira, positioning major international tournaments as a central part of its regional economic and cultural development strategy.

Prize Pool and Club Reward Breakdown

The $1,000,000 total is split into $300,000 in direct team prize money and a $700,000 Club Reward matrix. The winners take $120,000 in prize money plus a $180,000 Club Reward, with payouts scaling down through the placements.

The event forms part of the more than $11,450,000 allocated for teams and players across the 2027 ESL Pro Tour. The 2027 Annual Club Incentive will factor combined average concurrent viewership across the entire tournament, including the playoffs, into its points distribution.

Read More: Furia FalleN Announces CS2 Retirement at End of 2026 During Emotional IEM Rio Speech

Format and Invite System

The tournament opens with a group stage of 16 teams split into two groups of eight, each playing double elimination in a best-of-three format. Four teams from each group advance to an eight-team arena playoff stage. The playoffs run across three days: four quarter-finals on Friday, two semi-finals on Saturday, and a third-place decider ahead of the Grand Final on Sunday.

Of the 16 spots, 11 will be filled through global VRS invites, with one invite each going to the North American and South American VRS. The remaining three teams will come from qualifiers: two global and one Americas. The Americas qualifier will run on South American servers but use the Americas VRS list, while the global qualifier will run on European servers using the global VRS list. Regional VRS invites are allocated first, followed by global invites.

Invitations will follow the first available monthly VRS publication of February 2027, with seeding drawn from the April 2027 publication. Any team or player carrying an active ban from ESL, FACEIT, or the Esports Integrity Commission will be ineligible regardless of their VRS placement.

ESL’s 2027 Calendar So Far

IEM Brazil is the fourth disclosed location on the 2027 ESL Pro Tour calendar for Counter-Strike. The confirmed schedule now runs IEM Krakow from 27 January to 7 February, ESL Pro League Season 25 from 6 to 14 March, IEM USA from 5 to 11 April, and IEM Brazil from 3 to 9 May. Three further ESL events sit later in the year, in August, September and October to November, with details yet to be disclosed.