It has been quite some time since the Intel Challenge Cup got announced. But as with many other invite tournaments, teams tend to sign up, but never show up. With less than a week till the start of Intel Challenge Cup, we feel it's the right time to announce what's going to happen.

The Intel Challenge Cup will be gathering some of very best European teams, plus a little latino blood. The Intel Challenge Cup will take place 14-16th September, and will be located in the Russian capital, Moscow. Hosting the Intel Challenge Cup will be the Crocus Expo, located in the heart of Moscow. The Challenge Cup will consist of a CS 1.6 invite tournament, with a total prize purse of 50.000$.

First part of the Intel Challenge Cup will consist of the Open Qualification, next up will be the Group play with of two stages, last but not least there is a Double Emlimination bracket with eight teams. The confirmed teams attending the Intel Challenge Cup, has been divided into two seeding pools. The two pools, teams and lineups are:

Top Seed Pool

mibr - bruno, cogu, bit, nak & chucky
ALTERNATE aTTax - mooN, roman, paN, approx & CHEF-KOCH
emuLate - MaT, mSx, ioRek, HaRtS & R!Go
roccat - lurppis, plastE, contE, naSu & ruuit
CMAX - Shiri, Kuppi, tihOp, Twista & SPIKEONE
SWERUS - RobbaN, walle, Neo, Tarlund & OverDrive
Virtus.pro - LeX, ROMJkE, Sally, edzie & Zeus
A-Gaming - B1ad3, we1ss, strike, xaoc & starix

High Seed Pool

Begrip Gaming - Xenitron, diNGo, Flatra, ex & hooch
A-Gaming.ru - minig, Gudron, Crawler, Rosco & Cohnet
forZe - F_1N, HEL1, Snoop, pohmel & xomA
Islanders - redman, blade, KALbI4, Rado & ED1K
pro100 - Kane, Edzie, kekc, raz0r & Zeus
eXplosive - wizard, yxo, angel, silence & craftik
k23 - Beast, Anvik, Adrenaline, KK & Mumino
B`Style -

There will be a Mediumand Lowseed pool, but this will not be announced untill Friday, where the qualification round will take place.

The distribution of the 50.000$ are as follows:

1. - 20,000$ USD
2. - 14,000$ USD
3. - 8,000$ USD
4. - 4,000$ USD
5-8. - 1,000$ USD
5-8. - 1,000$ USD
5-8. - 1,000$ USD
5-8. - 1,000$ USD

The Map List

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de_inferno
de_dust2
de_train

Some might wonder why we do not have any of the big Swedish teams attending. To update you guys on what's going on, here is a small summary.

SK will not be attending due to SpawNwill be on a PR trip to Taiwan with SteelSeries. On the PR trip, SpawN will be promoting the new mousemat he developed in co-operation with SteelSeries. As you might have noticed, SK will be present in Moscow. RobbaN will be attending with the mix team consisting of; walle, Neo, Tarlund, Overdrive and the man himself.

fnatic simply did not wish to participate. They recently won a series of great qualifiers/leagues, and might need a little rest before the next major tournament, which in their case will be WCG Finalsin Seattle, USA.

The new Swedish team EYE, got invited to the Intel Challenge Cup. But they however struck with visa issues which made them unable to attend.

NiP hasn't announced any specific reason why they won't attend. But with a lineup only consisting of four players, they might not see the need to attend.

So where is NoAand the other Danish teams? Unfortunally for the teams, the Intel Challenge Cup will be taking place in the same weekend as the Danish WCG Qualifier. Some teams did get an invite, but simply focused on the WCG Qualifier.

HLTV.org will of course be updating you with the latest news. We will as always be hosting HLTV's for this great Challenge Cup. Drop by our coverage section to stay updated with scores, demos and the regular stuff.