IEM Rio Major & RMR Qualifiers Dates, Locations and Schedule Set

The Electronic Sports League (ESL) has announced the location and dates of the Rio 2022 – Regional Major Ranking (RMR) events. The RMR will decide the teams who will participate in the Rio edition of the Intel Extreme Masters, which is scheduled for November.

IEM Road to Rio RMR Qualifiers’ is the first stage planned, with teams from Europe, North America, South America, Asia, China, Middle East, and Oceania participating. Phase one consists of 18 open qualifiers for all seven regions, and four closed qualifiers for four regions.

The teams that qualify through these regional qualifiers will progress to the respective RMR tournaments, and the top 24 teams will seed through to the IEM Rio Major 2022. Malta will play host to the Europe RMR A and B tournaments, while the Americas RMR will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, competing from ESL’s studio facility. The Asian teams will  head to PAX Aus in Melbourne, Australia, and will play at the Expo Hall.

Qualifier galore throughout October

The qualifiers, both open and closed, for all regions are already underway, taking place in the second half of August. The European open qualifiers are divided into four phases, and have been scheduled between August 15 to August 28. The top 32 will qualify for RMRs in Malta. They will be split then into two categories, Europe A and Europe B, each comprising 16 squads each. The top eight teams from each division will progress to the IEM.

Some teams have already booked their place through their Legend Status at the PGL Major Antwerp ’22. FaZe Clan, Team Spirit, NIP, G2 Esports, Cloud9, Bad News Eagles are the ones who’ve qualified to Europe A, while NAVI, ENCE, Heroic, Team Vitality, BIG, Outsiders slot in Europe B. European regional majors will run from between October 4-9 in Greece.

The North and South American open qualifiers will be divided into three phases each, with both having kicked off on August 15. The South American qualifiers wrap up by August 27, while the North American extend to September 5 The top 16 teams will make their way to Stockholm, where the top six qualification spots for the majors will be up for grabs.

Furia Esports, Imperial Esports, and Team Liquid have already qualified through their performance in the PGL Antwerp Majors ‘22, while Complexity, ex-Gaimin have made it through the North American Qualifiers. Pain Gaming, MIBR, 00 Nation, 9z Team and O Plano have so far seeded through the South American Qualifiers. The RMR Americas will span between October 5 to October 9.

The Asian contingent will feature teams from China, Oceania, Middle East, and Asia. There are two rounds of open qualifiers organized for each region, extending between August 15-21. Unlike the others, these regions will also hold a series of closed qualifiers each, scheduled to take place August 27-28. A total of four teams will move on to Australia for the APAC RMRs held between October 7-9 at Melbourne, of which the top two teams will progress to the Masters.

Anticipation for the majors, though they don’t begin for another couple of months, is on the rise. This is the first time Brazil will host a CS:GO Major, and tickets for the tournament have already been sold out. The Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro is the designated venue for the IEM Majors, which spans two weeks between October 31 and November 13.