MOUZ and Team Spirit qualify for ESL Pro League Season 23 playoffs

MOUZ and Team Spirit have become the first teams to qualify for the ESL Pro League Season 23 playoffs after winning three matches during the second online stage of the tournament.

The two teams will form part of an eight-team field that will compete at Stockholm’s Annexet to be crowned champion.

MOUZ continues its impressive run of consistency with a third playoff appearance of 2026, cementing its place as one of the world’s top teams. The organisation navigated its way past HEROIC in the opening match with stellar showings from the pair of Jimi ‘Jimpphat‘ Salo and Lotan ‘Spinx’ Giladi, topping the scoreboards.

All three maps were needed to move past Astralis, with Spinx once again delivering plenty of impact across Ancient, Mirage, and Overpass to maintain its flawless Stage 2 record. Mirage and Overpass were masterful displays of attacking and defensive strategy, with MOUZ winning Mirage 13-1 and Overpass 13-3, securing a 2-1 series victory.

Nevertheless, The MongolZ struggled to halt MOUZ’s momentum in round three. A dominant 13-1 win on Ancient followed by a 13-11 win on Overpass sealed a 2-0 sweep and a place in the playoffs.

After missing PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026, Team Spirit looked to improve on its third-place finish at IEM Krakow 2026 with a strong ESL Pro League campaign.

Danil ‘donk‘ Kryskhovets spearheaded the team to a quick 2-0 sweep of 3DMAX in the opening best-of-three, before overcoming B8 2-1 in round two to set up a clash against G2 Esports for a chance to secure a playoff place in round three.

Team Spirit struck first on Ancient with a 13-9 scoreline before opening Anubis with some early pistol precision from Dmitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov to secure early rounds. Despite G2 Esports holding firm in the opening half, Team Spirit managed to score a slender 13-10 win to complete another 2-0 sweep to qualify.

Day nine of ESL Pro League Season 23 continues on March 9th, with the fourth round of matches deciding another wave of teams qualifying for the main event. In addition to the qualifying matches, three more teams will be eliminated.

Below is a list of the six matches taking place:

Fans can watch the matches on ESL’s Twitch and YouTube channels, with two broadcasts running simultaneously.