PGL Bucharest 2025 direct invitations revealed

PGL has revealed the 12 teams receiving direct invitations to its Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) event taking place in Bucharest, Romania.

The event emanating from Romania’s capital city takes place from April 6th to April 13th, 2025, featuring the best teams from around the world competing for $200,000 (~£157,794) of a $625,000 (~£493,156) prize pool.

The invited teams for PGL’s upcoming CS2 tournament are as follows:

The majority of the teams invited to the event form part of the top 12 teams from March’s Valve Regional Standings (VRS). Notable exclusions include NAVI and MOUZ, which are ranked sixth and eighth.

Interestingly, MOUZ won PGL Cluj-Napoca, the most recent Counter-Strike 2 event hosted by the tournament operator. It’s unclear why the team won’t be attending at this time.

In total, PGL Bucharest 2025 will feature 16 teams competing. The remaining four teams will be determined by online qualifiers across Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Instead of PGL Bucharest 2025 taking place in an arena or stadium, the matches will happen at PGL Studios, a dedicated in-house space for the organiser to host esports events.

For PGL, 2025 has started on the front foot. The Cluj-Napoca event recorded over half a million peak viewers during its Grand Final and the tournament organiser is already looking ahead for future tournaments.

In December 2024, PGL unveiled its 2026 tournament calendar with tournaments taking place in Romania, Kazakhstan and Serbia throughout the year.

PGL also announced an event in 2027, but BLAST has an event taking place at the same time. The clash will force teams to decide which to compete in. Meanwhile, lower-ranked teams may have an opportunity to compete in a top-tier CS2 event due to the spread.