FURIA and Team Spirit headline ESL Pro League Season 23 invites

FURIA and Team Spirit are among the teams that have accepted invitations to compete at ESL Pro League Season 23.

Most notably, ESL Pro League Season 22 champion Team Vitality will not defend its title after the organisation declined its invitation, along with Team Falcons.

As a result of Team Vitality and Team Falcons deciding not to compete, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Passion UA have joined the 24-team line-up. These teams will be competing in online qualifiers from February 27th to March 9th, 2026. The declines also mean Aurora Gaming and B8 will begin the tournament in Stage 2 as opposed to Stage 1.

FUT Esports has also secured an invitation to the Pro League thanks to Lynn Vision serving a one-tournament ban from ESL-operated events. The Chinese team withdrew from ESL Pro League Season 22 after the deadline, earning itself a ban from the next ESL event.

Alongside FURIA and Team Spirit, MOUZ, NAVI, and FaZe Clan are in attendance at the Tier 1 event. A total of eight of the top ten teams from January’s Valve Regional Standings (VRS) will compete in Stage 2 of the tournament’s online phase.

In addition to the invited teams, the winners of ESL Challenger League Season 50 and DreamHack Knockout have secured Pro League places, earning an opportunity to compete among the world’s best teams.

With the absence of Team Vitality and Team Falcons, ESL Pro League Season 23 offers other teams an opportunity to lift a Tier 1 trophy. Eight of the 24 teams from the online phase will qualify for the LAN finals taking place in Stockholm, Sweden, from March 13th to 15th.

The full list of teams competing is as follows: