In less than a month's time 32 teams will converge in Malta to fight in the new-look ESL Pro League Season 17.

ESL has announced the group distribution and ?? ?? ??opening matchups for the upcoming 17th season of ESL Pro League, which is set to be played over five weeks from February 22 to March 26.

EPL recently underwent an expansion from 24 to 32 teams as well as a change in format. This change will see the participating teams play in four groups of eight featuring a triple elimination format. The top four teams advance to varying stages of the playoffs — first-placed to the quarter-finals, second-placed to the second round, and third-fourth-placed to the first round of the knockout bracket.

Season 16 champions Vitality feature in Group C along with three other international sides

Group A is headlined by IEM Rio Major and BLAST Premier World Final winners, Outsiders and G2, who will be accompanied by another top-10 team in Cloud9 and a variety of top 30 teams from all over the world — fnatic, MIBR, Evil Geniuses, Eternal Fire, and IHC.

In Group B, HEROIC are the top seed following their runners-up finish in Rio and title-winning campaign at the BLAST Premier Fall Final, and will be joined by MOUZ and FURIA as the headliners. BIG, Complexity, Imperial, SAW, and Movistar Riders round out the second group.

Four international teams feature in Group C — FaZe, Vitality, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and OG — along with two Brazilian representatives in 00NATION and paiN and two Australian teams, Grayhound and Rooster.

Liquid are currently the highest-ranked team of Group D, and will be joined by Natus Vincere, ENCE, Spirit, Astralis, ATK, FORZE, and Rare Atom.

Group distribution

Group A (Feb 22)
Outsiders
G2
Cloud9
fnatic
MIBR
Evil Geniuses
Eternal Fire
IHC Group B (Mar 1)
HEROIC
MOUZ
FURIA
BIG
Complexity
Imperial
SAW
Movistar Riders Group C (Mar 8)
FaZe
Vitality
Ninjas in Pyjamas
OG
00NATION
paiN
Grayhound
Rooster Group D (Mar 15)
Liquid
Natus Vincere
ENCE
Spirit
Astralis
ATK
FORZE
Rare Atom

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Opening matchups

Group A

Outsiders vs. IHC
MIBR vs. fnatic
Cloud9 vs. Evil Geniuses
G2 vs. Eternal Fire

Group B

HEROIC vs. Movistar Riders
BIG vs. Complexity
Imperial vs. FURIA
SAW vs. MOUZ

Group C

FaZe vs. Rooster
paiN vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
OG vs. 00NATION
Vitality vs. Grayhound

Group D

Liquid vs. Rare Atom
ATK vs. ENCE
Spirit vs. Astralis
Natus Vincere vs. FORZE

Rare Atom #58 Zhuo 'advent' LiangAndrew 'kaze' KhongYi 'JamYoung' YangJingxiang 'Mercury' WangQianhao 'Moseyuh' Chen Xielin 'k4Mi' Zhu FORZE #33 Vladislav 'Krad' KravchenkoAndrey 'Jerry' MekhryakovAleksandr 'zorte' ZagodyrenkoAleksandr 'shalfey' Marenov Artem 'Fierce' Ivanov Movistar Riders #28 Alejandro 'alex' MasanetAlejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo CanoPere 'sausol' Solsona SaumellDavid 'dav1g' Granado BermudoAntonio 'MartinezSa' Martinez Galder 'bladE' Barcena MIBR #36 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesRaphael 'exit' LacerdaMatheus 'Tuurtle' AnhaiaBreno 'brnz4n' PolettoFelipe 'insani' Yuji Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima Natus Vincere #8 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovIlya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyValeriy 'b1t' VakhovskiyAndrii 'npl' Kukharskyi Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy OG #12 Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovi?Adam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharShahar 'flameZ' ShushanAbdul 'degster' GasanovMaciej 'F1KU' Miklas Casper 'ruggah' Due Liquid #4 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' Ga?inskis Damian 'daps' Steele Imperial #32 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoRicardo 'boltz' PrassMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoJhonatan 'JOTA' Willian Rafael 'zakk' Fernandes SAW #20 Christopher 'MUTiRiS' FernandesRicardo 'roman' OliveiraTiago 'JUST' MouraJo?o 'story' VieiraMichel 'ewjerkz' Pinto Omar 'arki' Chakkor ATK #38 Rhys 'Fadey' ArmstrongJonathan 'djay' DallalJonathan 'b0denmaster' BodenmalmMichael 'Swisher' SchmidGareth 'MisteM' Ries Daniel 'sprayxd' Kogan 00NATION #39 Marcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloEduardo 'dumau' WolkmerBruno 'latto' RebelattoLucas 'nqz' Soares Olavo 'chucky' Napole?o Vitality #9 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Danny 'zonic' S?rensen fnatic #11 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonDion 'FASHR' DerksenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' J?rgensenWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Jamie 'keita' Hall Astralis #18 Andreas 'Xyp9x' H?jslethLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzBenjamin 'blameF' BremerChristian 'Buzz' Andersen Peter 'casle' Ardenskjold FURIA #6 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu Nicholas 'guerri' Nogueira Evil Geniuses #21 Timothy 'autimatic' TaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJerric 'wiz' JiangJadan 'HexT' Postma Daniel 'Vorborg' Vorborg Cloud9 #10 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimur 'buster' TulepovSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Konstantin 'groove' Pikiner BIG #15 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeNils 'k1to' GruhneJosef 'faveN' BaumannKarim 'Krimbo' Moussa Fatih 'gob b' Dayik Complexity #22 Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryH?kon 'hallzerk' Fj?rliMichael 'Grim' WinceJustin 'FaNg' Coakley Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen Outsiders #5 Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliAleksandr 'KaiR0N-' AnashkinPetr 'fame' Bolyshev Dastan 'dastan' Akbayev paiN #29 Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoWesley 'hardzao' LopesRodrigo 'biguzera' BittencourtFelipe 'skullz' MedeirosRomeu 'zevy' Rocco Henrique 'rikz' Waku Ninjas in Pyjamas #16 Kristian 'k0nfig' WieneckeFredrik 'REZ' SternerAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenLudvig 'Brollan' BrolinDaniil 'headtr1ck' Valitov Daniel 'djL' Narancic Grayhound #31 Simon 'Sico' WilliamsJay 'Liazz' TregillgasAlistair 'aliStair' JohnstonJoshua 'INS' PotterDeclan 'Vexite' Portelli David 'Kingfisher' Kingsford MOUZ #7 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ?erňanskyJon 'JDC' de Castroádám 'torzsi' TorzsásDorian 'xertioN' Berman Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen ENCE #14 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferValdemar 'valde' Bj?rn Vangs?Pavle 'Maden' Bo?kovi?Pawe? 'dycha' Dychaálvaro 'SunPayus' García Eetu 'sAw' Saha HEROIC #1 Casper 'cadiaN' M?llerMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' BeckJakob 'jabbi' Nygaard Richard 'Xizt' Landstr?m FaZe #3 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenH?vard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Robert 'RobbaN' Dahlstr?m Eternal Fire #27 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' D?rtkarde?Bu?ra 'Calyx' Ark?n?mer 'imoRR' Karata?Yasin 'xfl0ud' Ko? Sezgin 'Fabre' Kalayc? G2 #2 Nikola 'NiKo' Kova?Nemanja 'huNter-' Kova?Justin 'jks' SavageRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Jan 'Swani' Müller Spirit #13 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovBoris 'magixx' VorobievPavel 'S1ren' OgloblinRobert 'Patsi' IsyanovIhor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov Sergey 'hally' Shavaev Rooster #98 Michael 'chelleos' HawkinsAkram 'ADK' SmidaCorey 'nettik' BrowneTyson 'asap' PatersonTynan 'TjP' Purtell IHC #30 Bat-Enkh 'kabal' BatbayarTengis 'sk0R' BatjargalTuvshintugs 'Annihilation' NyamdorjGaridmagnai 'bLitz' ByambasurenSodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold Erdenedalai 'maaRaa' Bayanbat