ESL Pro League Season 21 is underway with the world’s top 24 Counter-Strike 2 teams battling for glory in Sweden. Natus Vincere returns to defend their title, but they will face stiff opposition from Team Spirit, Eternal Fire, and Team Vitality. Who will emerge with the win? Our Counter-Strike 2 ESL Pro League Season XXI preview reveals key details about this tournament.
The last three editions of this event were hosted in Saint Julian’s, Malta. However, ESL’s long-standing partnership with GamingMalta has ended. As a result, the current edition of the tournament will take place at the ESL Studio in Stockholm, Sweden, from March 1 to March 16. The first stage of the contest took place from March 1 to March 5. With Stage 1 now complete, group play is set to begin on Friday, March 7.
| ℹ️ Tournament: | Counter-Strike 2, ESL Pro League Season 21 |
| 🧾 Format: | CS2 LAN S-tier tournament with 24 teams and a few stages |
| 🎮 Venue: | ESL Studio, Stockholm, Sweden |
| 🗓️ Dates: | Friday, March 7th – Sunday, March 16th, 2025 |
The competition will consist of two stages, followed by a playoff bracket. Stage 1 runs from March 1st to 5th, featuring 16 invited pro teams competing in a Swiss format with best-of-three matches. Baseline ratings will determine opening matchups, while subsequent rounds will use live ratings. Like Elo ratings, lower-seeded teams will gain more points for defeating higher-rated opponents.
After each round, teams will be paired based on updated ratings, ensuring no rematches occur. At the end of the Swiss stage, the top eight teams will qualify for Stage 2. The second stage follows the same Swiss format, with matches occurring from March 7th to 11th. Eight professional teams will move beyond this phase to the Playoffs.
The Playoffs begin on March 13th with a single-elimination bracket. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be best-of-three, while the grand final will be a best-of-five matchup.
ESL Pro League S21 has a $1,000,000 prize pool. Tournament winners will receive a $100,000 prize plus a $150,000 club share. The teams that finish second will receive a $50,000 cash prize with a $75,000 club share.
Betting apps for Esports have delivered outright CS2 ESL Pro League S21 odds for all teams competing in this contest. Here, we look at the winning potential of the top five competitive CS2 teams:
Team Spirit is the top contender to win this contest, thanks to its recent performances in CS2 competitions. The Russian organization won the Perfect World Shanghai Major in December 2024. They also emerged victorious at the BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1 Finals before finishing second at IEM Katowice in December 2024. Spirit’s recent exceptional performances have seen them rise to number one on the HLTV rankings. With two tournament wins in their last three outings, Spirit are in excellent form heading into this event.
CS2 sites for betting have placed Vitality as the second most likely team to win this contest. This selection has come after their triumphant win at the IEM Katowice 2025 tournament in February. In that contest, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and new boy Robin “ropz” Kool played crucial roles in overcoming Team Spirit in the grand finals. It was a complete rout as Vitality won 3:0 to clinch the title. Vitality will take a lot of confidence from that performance as they head to Stockholm for this contest.
In truth, NaVi last won a tournament in October 2024, securing the IEM Rio title. However, they have reached the semifinals of their previous two tournament outings. First, they lost 2:0 to Team Spirit at the BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1 Finals. A similar scoreline played out as they met Spirit in the semifinals at IEM Katowice 2025. NaVi will be keen to avoid repeating both losses by making it to the final stage this time and winning the event. As ESL Pro League S20 winners, they will be confident in their abilities to grab a win.
Despite holding the seventh spot in the HLTV rankings, Mongolz is positioned ahead of fourth-ranked Eternal Fire on this tournament’s list of potential winners. Apart from a semifinal run at IEM Katowice, the team has struggled to make a significant impact in recent events. They fell short in the quarterfinals at both the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 and PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025. Mongolz will need a marked improvement in their performance to claim victory in Stockholm.
Fresh off their triumph at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, MOUZ enters the competition aiming for their second title of the year. Coach Dennis “sycrone” Nielsen’s squad will take confidence from their impressive run in Romania, where they secured a 3-1 victory over Team Falcons in the grand final. Before this win, their next-best recent performance came at IEM Rio in October 2024, where they finished as runners-up. They also reached the semifinals of the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 in December.
Here are our ESL Pro League Season XXI predictions:
1 (50%)
(50%) 1
Vitality’s acquisition of Robin “ropz” Kool has significantly boosted their trophy-winning potential. His growing synergy with Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and the rest of the squad presents a daunting challenge for opponents. With their current firepower, Vitality can dominate even the toughest matchups, as demonstrated by their 3-0 sweep of Team Spirit in the IEM Katowice grand final. Given their resources and the confidence from their recent victory, we expect Vitality to claim their second title of 2025 in Stockholm by March 16. Several sports betting sites in Malta support this option with odds of 3.75 (11/4).
1 (50%)
(50%) 1
For our second CS2 predictions for ESL Pro League Season 21, we pick Team Spirit to reach the final. Team Spirit is the obvious choice for this bet, reaching the grand final in their last three events. While they could easily be considered the tournament favorites, their recent loss to Vitality places them just behind in our books. The team will look to 18-year-old Danil “Donk” Kryshkovets to lead the charge as they push for another deep run. If they continue to support Donk in playing to his strengths, Team Spirit will be a force to be reckoned with and a tough team to stop and most likely reach the grand finals.
2 (100%)
0
Team Falcons enters this contest following their runner-up finish at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025. While they face a challenging matchup against Team Liquid, they have reason to be confident of securing their first win over the intercontinental mix. Falcons boast a more substantial win rate, having won 61.5% of their matches over the past three months, compared to Liquid’s 50% during the same period. With this advantage, Team Falcons are in a strong position to claim victory when the two teams meet on March 7. You can bet on 2025 ESL Pro League CS2 with this option at odds of 1.75 (3/4).
Here are our 2025 CS2 ESL Pro League betting tips:
Team Vitality’s performance at IEM Katowice sees them emerge as our top favorite for another title win in Stockholm. Ensure you consider facts from our betting predictions for ESL Pro League CS2 when placing bets on this contest.
