Insider Gaming looks forward to ESL One Birmingham 2026. The $1,000,000 tournament sees Tier 1 Dota 2 return to the UK for the first time since ESL One Birmingham 2024, which saw Team Falcons prevail in front of a packed Birmingham crowd.
The event is part of the DreamHack Birmingham festival, which features several esports tournaments, including Call of Duty Major II.
ESL One Birmingham Schedule and Format
ESL One Birmingham schedule:
- March 22-29
- Arena Playoffs: March 27-29
The format follows the previous ESL One structure:
Group Stage:
- Two groups of eight
- Teams play Best of 2 series in a round-robin format
- Top two by series record advance to the Playoffs Upper Bracket
- 3rd/4th teams advance to Playoffs Lower Bracket
- 5th-8th teams are eliminated
- Tierbreaker Bo3 for two teams with equal records for consequentual placements, Bo1 round-robin for three or more teams.
Playoffs:
- Eight-team double-elimination bracket
- All matches Best of 3, except Bo5 Grand Final
ESL One Birmingham 2026 Teams
Group A
- BetBoom
- GamerLegion
- MOUZ
- Parivision
- REKONIX
- Yandex
- Tundra
- Yakult Brothers
Group B
- Aurora
- Nigma Galaxy
- OG
- paiN
- Falcons
- Spirit
- Virtus.pro
- Xtreme Gaming
Prize Pool
Prize pool: $1,000,000
Club Reward: $250,000
First Place: $250,000 + $40,000 Club Reward
ESL One Birmingham 2026 Location
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Arena playoffs: bp pulse LIVE, Birmingham
How to watch ESL One Birmingham 2026
You can follow ESL One Birmingham through ESL’s dedicated Twitch and YouTube Dota 2 channels:
ESL One Birmingham 2026 Predictions
Tier 1 Dota 2 has seen five different tournament winners since The International 2025, with Tundra, Falcons, Mouz, Yandex, and Liquid all securing Tier 1 trophies in the 2025/26 season.
Of those five, Yandex are the team in form coming into ESL Birmingham with their PGL Wallachia Season 7 victory backing up their DreamLeague Season 27 triumph.
The rising roster won Wallachia despite playing with Dmitry ‘DM’ Dorokhin as a stand-in, an ominous sign for their opposition in Birmingham.
The field will not have to worry about PGL Wallachia Season 7 runners-up, Liquid, who failed to qualify for the event after a 5th-6th place finish in the regional qualifier.
Tundra have secured the most trophies of the five event winners, winning BLAST Slam IV, BLAST Slam V, and DreamLeague Season 28, and will now look to replicate that on stage.
The roster will be extra motivated for the event, as it is the home event of their Position 4 player, Matthew ‘Ari’ Walker. The Brit has spent the majority of his career at a far distance from trophies, but in Tundra, he is placed to capture glory at ESL One Birmingham 2026.
Predicted Winner: Tundra Esports
Who do you think will come out on top at ESL One Birmingham? You can discuss that on our community Discord server!
See how the $1.7m Prize Pool at DreamHack Birmingham is shared throughout its esport competitions.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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