Dreamhack Winter, the largest esports festival in Europe, has announced earlier that they will organize a major CS:GO tournament, one in the series of supported by Valve and the community.
They also mentioned that the tournament will feature 16 teams with eight of them getting direct invites for achieving top-8 in ESL One Cologne.
Now it is revealed how Dreamhack will distribute the remaining slots. FACEIT will host official qualifiers this weekend with five qualification spots dedicated for European teams and only one for North American.
On October 18-19th 14:00 CEST FACEIT will have two open qualifiers up for 256 teams. Top four of each will proceed to the Qualifier Finals, which will be held on October 21 19:00 CEST and broadcasted by FACEIT. There are 8 teams already invited to the finals, and 16 teams in total will play single elimination bracket (Bo1 in Round of 16, Bo3 in the quarterfinals) with top-4 getting invites for Dreamhack Winter. Moreover, top5-8 teams will have another chance to make it to the main event as there will be a dedicated bracket (Bo1 with Bo3 final) where they will play for the remaining fifth European slot on October 22, 19:00 CEST.
On the same weekend as well, at 15:00 CDT there will be two open qualifiers up for 128 teams from North American region. The format is basicly same as the European one: top two teams from each qualifier will join four invited teams in single elimination bracket (Bo1 in Round of 8, Bo3 in semifinals and final) with winner advancing to the Dreamhack Winter.
The registration for these qualifiers is available via links provided below.
There is no detailed information about teams invited to the Qualifier Finals but FACEIT announced that the teams interested in these spots can apply for them at [email protected], providing information about their achievements.
Two remaining slots for the final event, 15th and 16th, are dedicated for the international teams. Details are not revealed yet and will be released shortly.
Dreamhack have also announced that 16 qualified teams will have special bootcamp opportunities, provided by them with accomodation expenses covered. However, the teams will need to cover travel expenses by themselves. More information about bootcamp is expected to be announced soon.
Qualifier registration link:
EU #1 Saturday 18 October, 14:00 CEST: link
EU #2 Sunday 19 October, 14:00 CEST: link
NA #1 Saturday 18 October, 15:00 CDT: link
NA #2 Sunday 19 October, 15:00 CDT: link
Overview of participating teams:
1. 
Ninjas in Pyjamas
2. Fnatic
3. 
Titan*
4. 
Dignitas
5. 
Virtus.pro
6. 
Cloud9
7. Epsilon
8. 
Natus Vincere
9-13. European Online Qualifier
14. North American Online Qualifier
15-16. TBA
*Titan replaced LDLC by having 3 players of their line-up
Source: Official site
Headline image: Cisco
