ESL Impression, a Counter-Strike 2 professional league solely for girls, says it should droop operations on the finish of its eighth season in November.”Whereas ESL Impression has succeeded in its mission to lift the profile of girls’s Counter-Strike, regardless of vital funding, the present financial mannequin is just not sustainable,” the league wrote in right this moment’s announcement.”Our dedication to creating a various and inclusive esports ecosystem stays a core worth for EFG, and we’ll proceed to help the group. With this upcoming season being the final of the present ESL Impression iteration we need to thank all of the gamers, groups, and followers on your dedication and for the whole lot ESL Impression has completed.”
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ESL Impression has struggled because it started operations in 2022: As famous by HLTV, the league eradicated the Katowice event in 2024 and noticed a number of organizations withdraw forward of the beginning of the 2025 competitors. However Ksenia “vilga” Kluenkova, captain of Ninjas in Pyjamas Impression, stated ESL Impression “was a beacon of hope and with out their tireless effort, the aggressive panorama inside girls’s Counter-Strike wouldn’t have reached the extent it has right this moment.””This departure leaves a niche that can’t be overstated,” Kluenkova wrote on X. “With no lively event organisers, our scene dangers shedding the very platform that retains competitors alive. Gamers want tournaments not solely to showcase their talent, however to develop, join and encourage future generations.”We need to specific our gratitude to ESL Impression for the whole lot they’ve constructed and given to us. On the similar time, we name upon others – organisations and companions – to step ahead and make investments on this group. We hope for extra TOs to assist preserve our goals alive, to make sure that the fervour and expertise right here shouldn’t be misplaced, however amplified.”
(Picture credit score: vilga (Twitter))Furia fe participant Karijna “kaahSENSEI” Takahasi shared comparable sentiments, describing the league shutdown as “the saddest factor that has occurred to us lately.”Hold updated with crucial tales and the very best offers, as picked by the PC Gamer staff.”ESL Impression was the principle event that each staff stored enjoying yr after yr with a dream, however the dream remains to be alive and we is not going to hand over,” Takahashi wrote. “To anybody who performs ESL Impression, do not hand over, this isn’t the tip.”The saddest factor that has occurred to us lately… ESL Impression was the principle event that each staff stored enjoying yr after yr with a dream, however the dream remains to be alive and we is not going to hand over. To anybody who performs ESL Impression, do not hand over, this isn’t the tip. https://t.co/IJtrii8J7oOctober 3, 2025ESL Impression staff Made in Brazil stated in a joint assertion with Flyquest Purple and Imperial Valkyries that the approaching shutdown of the league “is a heavy blow to the hundreds of athletes, groups, followers, and everybody who believes in a extra inclusive esports ecosystem,” however dedicated to “do the whole lot we will to maintain girls’s Counter-Strike alive and thriving worldwide.”
(Picture credit score: MIBR (Twitter))Based in 2000 because the Digital Sports activities League, ESL grew to change into one of many largest esports occasion organizers on the planet. It was acquired in 2022, together with event platform FACEIT, by Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Gaming Group, for $1.5 billion. ESL Impression had a complete annual prize pool of $300,000 for 2025, break up evenly between two seasons and shared between the highest eight groups in North America, South America, and Europe, in addition to the highest eight groups within the season finals.
