The CS:GO Stockholm Major is set to be the first Counter-Strike major to be played on LAN since August 2019. However, with the Swedish government’s tough stance on whether esports events should qualify as major sporting events, big questions have been raised as to whether Stockholm will actually be able to host the major at all.
With Dota 2’s The International 10 already having to be delayed and relocated to Bucharest, Romania due to the Swedish government’s stance on esports, many are expecting the CS:GO Major’s organiser, PGL, to announce the same. However, in an update today, PGL says it is still trying to come to an arrangement to host the event in Stockholm, but confirms it has two backup countries that fit the requirement to play host if anything changes.
“For the city [Stockholm] to be the heart of Counter-Strike later this year, we have to stick to the initial terms of the project: we need to fly all the qualified players into Sweden and to entertain a large number of spectators inside the venue,” PGL says in a statement. “The current restrictions in Sweden allow for only 300 spectators within the Avicii Arena, but these restrictions might be lifted after September 15, depending on the development of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are in touch with two other European countries who have already offered us all the necessary guarantees to run the CS:GO Major by having all the players on-site and a large audience inside the venue.”
PGL also says audience members will have to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
📢 Update on PGL CS:GO MAJOR 2021
📰 https://t.co/YuORasCELP pic.twitter.com/67DqDZb33F
— PGL (@pglesports) July 20, 2021
Despite establishing a Plan B and Plan C, PGL says it “still hopes that Sweden, the home of Counter-Strike, will be the host for the next CS:GO Major.”
While not confirming which countries and cities have been lined up as backup hosts, Bucharest is likely to be one of them due to PGL being based in the city and TI10 already being relocated there from Sweden.
The Stockholm Major is currently set to start on October 23 and conclude on November 7.