The closed qualifier for the Europe Minor Championship is about to start, with 16 teams squaring off for eight spots at the $50,000 tournament in Katowice.

The qualifier will use a best-of-three, double-elimination format, with the eight invitees taking on teams coming out of the open brackets in the first round, scheduled to start at 11:00 .

No. 6 in the world MOUZ and No. 10 North headline the team list for the qualifier, which also boasts eight other teams currently inside the top 30 in the ranking.

The first round will feature a mouth-watering clash between five former Major champions as Virtus.pro will be pitting their wits against Vitality, and a Danish showdown between TOYOTA Master Bangkok champions HEROIC and Fragsters, who will be fielding Nicolai "⁠glace⁠" Jensen and Frederik "⁠LOMME⁠" Nielsen as stand-ins following the departures of Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali and Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen, according to a report from HLTV.org.

The top eight sides of the closed qualifier will earn spots at the Europe Minor, which will be held at the ESL Arena, in Katowice, from January 16-20.

Below you can find the match-ups for the first round of the qualifier:

MOUZ vs. x-kom
Virtus.pro vs. Vitality
LDLC vs. Valiance
ENCE vs. Windigo
OpTic vs. MIKSTURA
Fragsters vs. HEROIC
Kinguin vs. ex-Space Soldiers
Sprout vs. North