IEM Cologne 2022 recap in photos

One week has passed since the closing event of the first season of 2022, IEM Cologne, where FaZe reclaimed the top spot in the world ranking after momentarily losing it to Natus Vincere on July 11. Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen and company closed out a superlative season in Germany, going into the summer break with two ESL Pro Tour Championships, IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne, one ESL Pro League title, and a Major trophy won at the PGL Major in Antwerp.

The tournament on the shores of the Rhine delivered many stories that made it stand out as a highlight of the season, with teams such as Spirit or Heroic fielding new players in Igor “⁠w0nderful⁠” Zhdanov and Jakob “⁠jabbi⁠” Nygaard, respectively, Mareks “⁠YEKINDAR⁠” Gaļinskis standing in for Liquid, or Movistar Riders and MOUZ battling the odds to reach the tournament’s playoff stage at the LANXESS Arena.

Scroll below to see some of the best moments as captured by HLTV’s photographers, from the play-in stage all the way to the playoffs in one of the most iconic venues for Counter-Strike, where the season concluded with a best-of-five grand final thriller that pitted the two best teams in the world, FaZe and Natus Vincere.

w0nderful celebrates with his new teammates after an opening victory against Complexity, the 17-year-old played his first event since signing with Spirit at IEM Cologne
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

JT and junior interact in the playing area after Complexity’s defeat at the hands of Astralis in the play-in, the North American squad was eliminated in last place following an initial defeat to Spirit
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

Order prepare ahead of their opening match against BIG, the Australians traveled to Cologne after a disappointing 9-12th place finish at ESL Conference and did not manage to bounce back in Germany with two consecutive losses to BIG and Imperial in the play-in
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

try gives an interview to Dust2.com.br at the end of the first day of the play-in, 00NATION opened their tournament run with a victory over Astralis followed by a 1-2 loss to Spirit
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

mopoz celebrates during Movistar Riders’ opening match against MIBR, the Spanish team won 16-13 on the way to qualifying for the tournament’s group stage
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

MOUZ earned after a hard-fought overtime win against paiN in their opening match, the international squad led by dexter went on to become one of the tournament’s overachievers
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

Xizt reviews strategy ahead of his team’s qualifying match against MOUZ, the Danes won the series 2-1 to secure a spot in the group stage
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

Imperial and 00NATION were the center of attention in the opening round of the second day of the play-in, the series between the two teams was the first time all five of the former Luminosity/SK two-time Major champions were all in the same server since 2016 albeit on different sides
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

LETN1 paces behind his players during TYLOO’s lower bracket match against MIBR, the series ended in a 2-1 victory for the Chinese-Indonesian squad that kept their hopes of advancing beyond the play-in alive even if ultimately to no avail
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

exit hangs his head between his arms after a tough loss to TYLOO, the defeat ended in MIBR’s elimination from the play-in after an opening loss to Movistar Riders
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

tabseN covers his face with the palms of his hands after BIG lost their lower bracket decider match against Astralis, ending the German team’s dreams of playing in front of the home crowd at the LANXESS Arena
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

coldzera and taco, former teammates now reunited in 00NATION, celebrate after beating Imperial 2-0 to secure a spot in the IEM Cologne group stage
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Imperial’s VINI folds over his chair after his team’s defeat at the hand of 00NATION, which ended FalleN and company’s run in the IEM Cologne play-in stage
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

k0nfig was the top performer for Astralis in their victory over BIG, the Dane averaged a 1.25 rating in the series that clinched his squad’s advancement to the group stage
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

Movistar Riders’ mopoz and G2’s JACKZ chat after their opening group stage match at IEM Cologne, the Spanish team won 2-0 in an upper-bracket run to the group stage final
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Machine looks up at SPUNJ, who is standing on his chair, as they cast during the first day of the IEM Cologne group stage
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

JAME covers his face during Outsiders’ opening group stage defeat to Cloud9, he and his teammates went on to lose 0-2 to FURIA in the lower bracket which ended their group stage run in last place
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Patsi put on a display of aggressive Counter-Strike in Cologne, averaging a 1.30 opening kill rating across the eight maps Spirit played in the group stage
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

nafany had a disastrous showing at IEM Cologne, he ended the event with a career-low 0.71 rating in Cloud9’s disappointing 9-12th place finish
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

FaZe had no issues going through the group stage, qualifying straight for the tournament’s semi-finals with three 2-0 victories against 00NATION, Spirit and Astralis
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

Heroic’s newcomer jabbi is consoled by Xizt after the Danish squad was eliminated from IEM Cologne in last place, the Danes were ousted from the group stage after two straight 0-2 losses to NIP and MOUZ
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Members of the talent crew celebrate YNk’s 30th birthday live during a broadcast segment on the analysis desk
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

alex kisses his rosary, which he keeps hanging on the back of his monitor during matches, after Movistar Riders continued their upper bracket group stage run in the second day of play with a 2-1 victory over Vitality
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

FURIA huddle up before their first lower bracket group stage match against Outsiders, the Brazilian outfit went on to win 2-0 to stay alive in Cologne
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

YEKINDAR stood in for Liquid at IEM Cologne, he helped the North American team win three straight lower bracket matches against 00NATION, Cloud9 and FURIA to secure a spot in the playoffs
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Astralis’ players and coach hug each other after beating Cloud9, this victory secured a spot in the playoffs for the Danes through the upper bracket
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

Aleksib failed to lead G2 to victory as a loss to NIP in the group stage’s lower bracket semi-final ended the international squad’s run, the Finnish in-game leader was subsequently allowed to explore his options outside of G2
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

apEX reacts after Vitality’s elimination from the IEM Cologne group stage, an opening victory against ENCE turned sour after losses to the two dark horses that made the playoffs, Movistar Riders and MOUZ
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

MOUZ players celebrate ecstatically after securing a spot in the playoffs, lower bracket wins against Heroic, Vitality and NIP got the team past the group stage threshold
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

NIP missed out on reaching the IEM Cologne playoffs at the last hurdle losing a painful decider map on Mirage to MOUZ 3-16, the Swedish-Danish outfit finished their tournament run in 7-8th place
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

NAVI won three straight matches against MOUZ, NIP and Movistar Riders to secure one of the two semi-final spots up for grabs straight from the group stage
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

daps, coaching Liquid for the first time at IEM Cologne, embraces YEKINDAR and nitr0 after the team secured a spot in the playoffs
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

arT stares at his monitor with a blank expression after FURIA was knocked out of contention in Cologne, the Brazilians were taken down by Liquid in a close 0-2 bout
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

HLTV Confirmed was aired live in front of a sold-out crowd of 100 at Xperion in Cologne
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Bleh sits among the crowd at the HLTV Confirmed live show in Cologne
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

The LANXESS Arena was sold out for all three days of the IEM Cologne playoffs
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

MOUZ’s torzsi and Bymas walk out onto the stage bearing their nations’ flags for their quarter-final match against Astralis in their Big Event arena debut
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Astralis’ trace and gla1ve celebrate after defeating MOUZ 2-1 to secure a spot in the IEM Cologne semi-finals against Natus Vincere, clinching their best finish of the season
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

mopoz carries a BIG flag in his walk-in as an act of friendship with the German team who did not reach the playoffs on home soil, Movistar Riders became the first Spanish team to play a Big Event match in an arena
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

YEKINDAR waves to the crowd after falling 1-2 to the Movistar Riders underdogs in the IEM Cologne quarter-finals, the Latvian star’s future is still uncertain going into the summer break after being benched in Outsiders
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Movistar Riders’ AWPer SunPayus looks out at the crowd during the post-match interview with James Banks after defeating Liquid 2-1 in the IEM Cologne quarter-finals, SunPayus was the Spanish team’s highest-rated player at the event with a 1.16 rating in 13 maps
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

O.J. Borg hypes up the crowd at the LANXESS Arena before the IEM Cologne semi-final matches on Saturday, July 16, 2022
(Zvonimir “Professeur” Burazin for HLTV)

BIG’s fans, the Roaring Bears, were out in full force at the LANXESS Arena despite the home team not qualifying for the playoffs
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Astralis walk out onto the stage at the LANXESS Arena, where rivals Natus Vincere are already waiting ahead of their semi-final bout
(Zvonimir “Professeur” Burazin for HLTV)

sdy claps his hands facing the crowd after NAVI secured a 2-0 victory over Astralis to advance to the IEM Cologne grand final, sdy made it to two grand finals in his two stints as a stand-in for the team with a first-place finish at BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

SunPayus walks on stage draped in a Spanish flag ahead of Movistar Riders’ semi-final match against FaZe
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Michał “carmac” Blicharz, VP of Product Development at ESL, takes some time to join the local supporters and imbue the atmosphere at the LANXESS Arena
(Zvonimir “Professeur” Burazin for HLTV)

BIG’s in-game leader tabseN visits with his team’s supporters, the Roaring Bears, during the Movistar Riders vs. FaZe semi-final match
(Zvonimir “Professeur” Burazin for HLTV)

karrigan interacts with the crowd after FaZe’s 2-0 victory over Movistar Riders in the semi-finals, which set up the dream grand final against NAVI
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

B1ad3 poses with the HLTV Team of the Year 2021 trophy, which was delivered to NAVI in Cologne
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

nitr0 walks the IEM Cologne trophy into the arena ahead of the grand final between the top two teams in the world, FaZe and NAVI
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

stunna, Maniac and YNk during a desk segment for the IEM Cologne grand final
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

s1mple, draped in a Ukrainian flag, walks down the catwalk towards the stage in front of a packed LANXESS Arena ahead of the IEM Cologne grand final
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

FaZe walk past the IEM Cologne trophy on the way to the stage for their grand final bout against NAVI, a rematch of the PGL Major Antwerp grand final
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

karrigan cheers after FaZe win a round in the IEM Cologne grand final against NAVI, FaZe went on to win the grand final in a five-map thriller with four out of the five maps reaching 29 rounds or more
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

Twistzz raises the IEM Cologne trophy, the Canadian rifler powered his team to victory on the final map with a 1.40 rating and game-deciding plays in the final rounds of the series
(Josip “brcho” Brtan for HLTV)

A lucky fan poses with s1mple’s second-place medal, the medal was tossed from the stage by the Ukrainian star after the trophy ceremony
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)

s1mple was awarded the HLTV MVP medal despite NAVI losing the grand final, this is the third HLTV MVP award s1mple earned at an ESL event in Cologne following his ESL One Cologne 2018 and IEM Cologne 2021 MVPs
(Radosław “MAKKU” Makuch for HLTV)