The invites for the IEM Cologne 2026 Counter-Strike Major are set following the whirlwind conclusion of local LANs as we approached the April 6 cutoff date.
Those local LANs saw heartache and jubilance, as FaZe disastrously missed out on the Major following HLC Pro Belgrade Grand Final defeat to BIG.
On the other hand, the LANs saw a host of new players and new orgs guarantee that they will be immortalized in the highly-prized in-game stickers.
IEM Cologne 2026 Major full invite list:
The IEM Cologne 2026 Major invites* will be applied as follows, from highest to lowest ranking teams across the Europe, Americas, and Asia regions:
Stage 3: 6 EU, 1 Americas, 1 Asia
Stage 2: 5 EU, 3 Americas
Stage 1: 6 EU, 6 Americas, 4 Asia
Stage 3 Invites:
- Vitality (EU)
- Natus Vincere (EU)
- Parivision (EU)
- Furia (Americas)
- Aurora (EU)
- Falcons (EU)
- MOUZ (EU)
- The MongolZ (Asia)
Stage 2 Invites:
- Spirit (EU)
- Astralis (EU)
- G2 (EU)
- FUT (EU)
- 9z (Americas)
- paiN (Americas)
- Monte (EU)
- Legacy (Americas)
Stage 1 invites:
- GamerLegion (EU)
- BIG (EU)
- BetBoom (EU)
- B8 (EU)
- Heroic (EU)
- Sinners (EU)
- M80 (Americas)
- Tyloo (Asia)
- NRG (Americas)
- Sharks (Americas)
- Gaimin Gladiators (Americas)
- MIBR (Americas)
- Liquid (Americas)
- Lynn Vision (Asia)
- THUNDER dOWNUNDER (Asia)
- FlyQuest (Asia)
The event consists of three Swiss Stages of 16 teams, starting in Stage 1, followed by eight-team single-elimination playoffs. The event will feature no Best of 1s following ESL’s decision to remove them from the format, with all Swiss matches being Best of 3 contests.
*Note that this list corresponds to the invites as determined by the Valve Regional Standings in the April 6th snapshot of the rankings. The Cologne Major invites must follow this VRS list, but teams will have to confirm acceptance of the invitation and secure the necessary Visas to attend the event.
Visa issues have plagued several tournaments already this year, also affecting last year’s BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. At Austin, Bestia initially qualified for the event, but were unable to meet the Visa deadline required by BLAST, resulting in Legacy taking their spot at the Major.
If a team is unable to attend, then the next team in that team’s region would be invited. For each region, the next team on the VRS would be: Alliance (EU), BESTIA (Americas), and SemperFi (Asia).
Who do you think will be the surprise package of the IEM Cologne 2026 Major? Let us know on our Discord server!
For more CS news, see how 3DMAX missed out on the Major!
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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