The IEM Cologne 2026 Major was an emotional, memorable, and record-breaking Counter-Strike event. For some, it will remain the best moments of their lives, for others, the worst.
Insider Gaming has a look back at the event to identify the biggest winners and the biggest losers of the first Major of the 2026 Counter-Strike calendar.
The IEM Cologne 2026 Major’s biggest winners
Every single member of Team Falcons
It goes without saying that Team Falcons are the biggest winners, but it would be a dereliction of duty not to point out that every single member of the Falcons roster, and its coach, had an incredible story to get there.
Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač’s story is, of course, the most extraordinary. Winning a major on the 17th time of asking, in new positions no less, is an incredible feat of perseverance and adaptability.
The veteran rifler told Insider Gaming after the victory, “I went through a lot in my career; people that follow me know how hard it was, how much I’ve suffered. There was a lot of pain; I lost a lot in my career, but today it feels like it was all worth it, all of that was a lesson, and all of that was leading up to something great.”
That is not to understate the impact of Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen. karrigan’s FaZe failed to qualify for the Cologne Major, yet in the end, he lifted the trophy in an extraordinary run.
He did so by elevating every single other player in the roster, most notably Maksim ‘kyousuke’ Lukin, who had struggled in the playoffs before karrigan’s introduction. The 18-year-old came of age in Cologne, delivering huge impact and outfragging donk in the semis.
René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen also had huge moments when needed, finding more confidence in his crosshair of late. For Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov, the risk of leaving G2 to rejoin NiKo has fully paid off, with an event MVP for the AWPer as well.
Perhaps most important for their legacy, Falcons coach, Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen secured his record sixth Counter-Strike Major. The coach had been under pressure for the entire Falcons enterprise, which had only won one trophy before Cologne.
Alongside NiKo, the Danish former Astralis coach’s relief was perhaps the most palpable on stage as he returned to the top of the CS mountain.
9z & BetBoom
With the end of the tournament focusing on heavy-hitters like Falcons, FURIA, Spirit, Vitality, and G2, it might be hard to remember that the IEM Cologne 2026 Major had its fair share of fairytale runs.
None were more notable than the two relative minnows that made the Major playoffs: 9z and BetBoom.
BetBoom clawed their way from Stage 1 of the Major all the way to the playoffs. While the roster undoubtedly found the Lanxess too big a stage to replicate their earlier form, that makes their journey there no less remarkable.
Despite the absence of their starting rifler, Pavel ‘S1ren’ Ogloblin, IGL Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhailov, and coach Artem ‘Fierce’ Ivanov, showed very composed and organized Counter-Strike to progress through the Swiss Stages.
As a result, the team has leapfrogged to the top 10 of the VRS, ensuring a plethora of Tier 1 invites for next season and dozens of chances for the roster to grow more on-stage experience. As the only roster to defeat Falcons in the Major, the roster’s potential cannot be dismissed.
9z will similarly get plenty of Tier 1 invites next season, sitting in the top 12 of the VRS after the Major. The Argentinian organization also showed a strong performance in the playoffs, pushing FURIA hard on stage.
Maximiliano ‘max’ Gonzalez called rings around FURIA on Dust 2, recreating his excellent mid-round calling in the Swiss stage, and Luciano ‘luchov’ Herrera announced himself as a true star at this Major.
The future is bright for 9z after this breakout event. The organization’s status as a Spanish-speaking South American roster also gives it the possibility of keeping the roster together for the long term. Folks on Polymarket believe there is a 32% chance of 9z making a roster change before September.
Counter-Strike Esports
During the playoffs, on July 19, Counter-Strike celebrated its 27th birthday; specifically, it was 27 years since the initial Counter-Strike beta. On the same day, G2 and Spirit played out one of the most unbelievable series in the history of the esport.
As if to act as a cherry on top of the birthday cake, Falcons and Vitality followed that up with an enthralling series that kept fans cheering in the Lanxess well past 01:00 local time. Both matches peaked at over 2 million viewers, as per data from Esports Charts.
The Grand Final went one step further, capturing 2,752,253 peak viewers according to Esports Charts, breaking the long-held PGL Stockholm 2021 Major peak, the first CS Major since the COVID pandemic.
The tournament also averaged a staggering 627,489 viewers through all stages for a total of 100,245,102 hours watched.
In contrast to other esports, where declining viewership is causing existential dread, there is very little fear that Counter-Strike will disappear any time soon.
While Counter-Strike may be 27-years-old, there’s life in the unc of esports yet.
The IEM Cologne 2026 Major’s biggest losers
Natus Vincere
NAVI went into the Major riding the high of defeating Vitality at IEM Atlanta, securing the trophy there to make a statement on the eve of the Major.
In the Major itself, the team never really got off the ground, struggling through every moment, eventually being eliminated by G2, finishing Stage 3 with a 2-3 record overall.
The roster was undoubtedly the second-best roster of the season overall, winning two trophies and securing runner-up finishes in Rotterdam and Fort Worth.
Despite that, all of NAVI’s win conditions fell by the wayside in Cologne, with their overall teamplay, which gave them such a high floor, completely missing, and their newfound win condition, Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri, suffering individually.
The failure to even make the playoffs suddenly wiped away a lot of the perceived progress that the roster had made over the last three months, erasing the positive community sentiment and instantly causing fans to call for roster changes.
That may be the only positive for NAVI, that their resistance to make roster changes may be overcome by the need to improve their Major showings.
After a 3rd/4th place in Budapest, NAVI decided to stick with their roster. After Cologne, the question NAVI must ask is whether Natus Vincere means ‘Born to Participate’ or whether it means ‘Born to Win.’ Bold action will be needed to ensure NAIV can keep up with the awesome firepower of this Falcons roster.
Astralis
Astralis’ Stage 2 exit should not have been a shock to anyone. Their form had been trending in that direction in the previous results leading up to the Major at BLAST Fort Worth and IEM Atlanta.
The roster seemed to lose faith completely in their existing structure and playstyle, performing well below what you would expect from their individuals.
That is not to say that this Astralis roster is its most star-studded. The roster was built to be a functional cooperation of pieces rather than star-driven, but even then, it fell below those modest expectations.
Astralis had to watch on as TeSeS, one of the few former Heroic roster members they did not sign, lifted the trophy. They also saw Gytis ‘ryu’ Glušauskas’s former Monte teammates progress to Stage 3 as Astralis languished in their 1-3 Stage 2 exit.
Coach Casper ‘ruggah’ Due has already fallen by the way side, losing his role in the roster, but it would be shocking if he were the last to go. After the sudden collapse of morale from Fort Worth onwards, one wonders what exactly is happening in this roster.
Liquid
Oh, Liquid, Liquid, Liquid. How do I fix you? Well, truth be told, I’m glad that’s not my decision to make.
Liquid were fortunate to be at the Major in the first place due to a region swap after securing Mario ‘malbsMD’ Samayoa. After signing the Guatemalan, they proceeded to almost make a mess of that particular gift horse, squeaking into the Major through the Americas VRS.
Liquid didn’t deserve to be at the Major, but surely, when you’re there, you make the most of it? On paper, this Liquid roster is still far better than the majority of Stage 1 teams. That advantage remained purely on paper, turning to dust in the server.
A Stage 1 elimination was all Liquid deserved, and all this roster deserves as a whole. Poor MalbsMD must be dismayed at what he walked into.
By contrast, NertZ, who joined G2 from Liquid in a swap for MalbsMD, made the playoffs and played out one of the best series in CS history in the quarter-finals.
When Insider Gaming asked NertZ if he was miserable at Liquid, he replied, “Maybe I thought there were different voices, too many voices in the team, that I should be trying to give some space for other people. And it may be it gave the effect of being miserable, frustrated, or depressed.”
The team’s structural issues still seem to remain despite changing players and their coach over the last year. It seems no matter the exact configuration, Liquid are abject.
The worst thing about the Liquid situation is the idea that Liquid might want to keep three of these players to maintain their ranking for future invites.
The cycle must be broken, the suffering must end, Liquid must disband! Please?
Maybe you think Team Vitality is one of the biggest losers. Certainly, a chance to complete a historic threepeat isn’t something that comes around every day. Insider Gaming explores Vitality’s run here, and why it might not be the worst loss in the end.
Let us know your IEM Cologne 2026 Major predictions on Insider Gaming’s Discord
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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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