The showmatch at IEM Rio Major, the second Valve-sponsored CS:GO event of 2022, has been determined today. The “Legends Clash” will put legendary Brazilian players against legendary Swedish players on the stage before the grand finals.
ESL did not reveal which players will play for Team Brazil and Team Sweden, though. The showmatch is scheduled for Nov. 13 at 11am CT at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Every CS:GO Major up to this date has had a showmatch before the grand finals.
Brazil and Sweden share a great history in Counter-Strike that goes back to the CS 1.6 days when they were notable rivals. MIBR, the best Brazilian team at that time, defeated Swedish teams Fnatic and SK Gaming at ESWC 2006 and DreamHack Winter 2007, respectively, in the grand finals of these tournaments that were considered just as important as the CS:GO Majors are nowadays.
It’s possible then that we see players from both Brazil and Sweden who clashed in this period of Counter-Strike. The Brazilian crowd would certainly have fun watching legends such as Raphael “cogu” Camargo, Lincoln “fnx” Lau, Bruno “BIT” Lima, and Renato “nak” Nakano go against some of the best Swedish players of that time, such as Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, and Abdisamad “SpawN” Mohamed.
The IEM Rio Major will run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 13 and will feature 24 of the best CS:GO teams in the world fighting for the $1.25 million prize pool.
