ESL has outlined its Pro Tour schedule for the 2025-2026, giving Dota 2 fans and pro players alike plenty to look forward to.
When Valve washed its hands of the Dota 2 esports scene, ESL was quick to expand its presence. The tournament organizer, which encompasses the ESL One, IEM, DreamHack, and DreamLeague lines of events, ran several of the biggest Dota 2 tournaments of the 2024-2025 season. That’s now set to expand moving forward.
ESL has officially confirmed its plans for the 2025-2026 Dota 2 season, which will include four big LAN events between December 2025 and May 2026. And similar to what has been seen in Counter-Strike with FACEIT and ESEA, ESL is taking a more active role in the lower levels of the Dota 2 pro scene.
ESL will run four prominent LAN events in Dota 2 during the 2025-2026 season between its ESL One and DreamLeague brands, with $1 million prize pools in each.
These are all of the Dota 2 tournaments ESL has planned for the next season:
| Event | Dates | Prize Money | Club Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| DreamLeague Div 2: Stage 1 | October 11-26, 2025 | $50,000 | $0 |
| DreamLeague Div 2: Stage 2 | November 4-12, 2025 | $50,000 | $0 |
| DreamLeague Season 27 | December 10-21, 2025 | $750,000 | $250,000 |
| DreamLeague Season 28 | February 16-March 1, 2026 | $750,000 | $250,000 |
| ESL One Europe | March 22-29, 2026 | $750,000 | $250,000 |
| DreamLeague Season 29 | May 13-24, 2026 | $750,000 | $250,000 |
DreamLeague Season 27 is the first ESL LAN event of the season, and it will be an extra-large tournament featuring 24 teams. The tournament will cast a wide net in terms of qualifiers, with 11 teams invited based on the outcomes of the Esports World Cup, and The International 2025, and other events of significance.
This opens the door for teams to earn points in the ESL Pro Tour, which is used to determine qualification for successive tournaments. DreamLeague Season 28 and ESL One Europe both guarantee invitations to the top six teams in the ESL Pro Tour, while the qualification criteria for DreamLeague Season 29 will be determined later.
Each LAN will have $1 million on the line, which can make them exciting events for those interested in Dota 2 betting. Not all of this money is going to the actual pro Dota 2 players. $250,000 of the money paid out instead goes to the organizations that sponsor teams. ESL tournaments in the previous system were handled similarly.
The tournament schedule, qualifier criteria, and formats for most of these tournaments were announced on the ESL Pro Tour site.
ESL is actually set to run fewer large-scale Dota 2 tournaments in the 2025-2026 season compared to the previous year. 2024-2025 season included DreamLeague Season 24, 25, and 26, alongside both ESL One Bangkok and ESL One Raleigh. Next season will include just four $1 million tournaments compared to this season’s five, though ESL is set to do more for Dota 2 in other ways.
ESL will expand its presence in the tier-two scene of Dota 2 through the creation of a lower division of DreamLeague.
“One thing that we wanted to focus on ahead of the next ESL Pro Tour season is tier-two scene development, creating more paths for pros just starting out to get a taste of the future ahead of them and more opportunities for them to receive financial security in pursuing their dreams,” ESL said in a statement. “That’s why it’s important for us that DreamLeague Division 2…gives the top performing teams the chance to qualify directly to DreamLeague Season 27 and 29.”
The move to open a tier-two league system comes after a return to Dota 2 esports by third-party tournament organizers. These leagues were largely made redundant by Valve’s Dota Pro Circuit, which dominated the event calendar in a way that allowed few other alternatives could exist. Valve ended the Dota Pro Circuit following The International 2023 while also killing off the True Sight line of documentaries and The International Battle Pass, opening up opportunities for third-party event organizers once again.
Since then, a tier-two scene has emerged with events from the likes of CCT, MESA, and Fissure. ESL is now looking to plant its own flag in this space, though it’s unclear whether the long-term support will be there.
Featured image credit: ESL
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