Don't Miss s1mple's First CS2 LAN Event With Falcons at ESL Challenger Katowice

Back in September, we reported that the legendary Ukrainian AWPer, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev, considered by many as the GOAT of Counter-Strike, would return to competitive play with the Saudi Arabian organization Team Falcons on a three-month loan contract from NAVI.

While the primary reason is to qualify for the Perfect World Shanghai Major via the European RMR, that's not the only event s1mple will be competing in with Team Falcons. While we've seen s1mpe getting "donked" on in a showmatch, this will be the first time that he plays in a serious, professional CS2 match after a year-long absence. 

Read More: Watch donk Smash s1mple in CS2 Showmatch

s1mple's first tournament match is at the Thunderpick World Championship 2024 versus 3DMax on 21 October 2024 at 11:30 CET. This is an online event in the group stage, with only the top four competing on LAN.

So when is s1mple's first LAN match, officially? Well, that's at ESL Challenger Katowice 2024, where eight teams will compete for their share of the $100,000 prize pool and one spot at ESL Pro League Season 21 on the line.

This is a LAN event taking place at the ESL Studio in Katowice, Poland. The event is, of course, hosted by ESL and runs from 25 to 27 October 2024. 

s1mple's first match is in Group A of the ESL Challenger Katowice 2024, as Team Falcons is set to face SAW on 25 October 2024 at 13:00 CET.

The action begins with a Group Stage featuring two double-elimination format (GSL-style) groups, where each group has four teams. The opening and winner matches are BO1, and the other matches are BO3. Check out the group team distribution below.

Group A Teams:

• Team Falcons
• SAW
• Eternal Fire
• B8

Group B Teams:

• paiN Gaming
• MIBR
• Monte
• Legacy

The top two teams from each group will advance to the single-elimination playoffs bracket, where all matches are BO3.

Read More: ESL Counter-Strike Calendar 2025: All Championships & Masters Events

You can watch all the action via the ESLCS YouTube or ESLCS Twitch channels. We've embedded the latter below for your viewing convenience.

Will s1mple's first professional CS2 match go well, or will the GOAT need some more time to adjust? We can't wait to find out!