Full List of Teams Invited to IEM Rio 2026 Has Been Revealed By ESL

A complete list of teams set to compete at the main event and global and Americas closed qualifiers for IEM Rio 2026 has been revealed by ESL. 

Two teams have declined their invitations: FaZe Clan and The MongolZ. As a result, eight of the top 10 teams from January's Valve Regional Standings (VRS) remain. 

Field of Closed Qualifiers Revealed

On January 18, the closed qualifiers for Tier 1 begin, with teams such as Imperial Esports, Fluxo, BESTIA, and YNG Sharks competing in the Americas qualifiers. Additionally, four teams from the open qualifiers will join them. 

Some teams declined invitations to the Americas qualifiers: paiN Gaming, NRG, and M80. Speaking of paiN Gaming, they recently signed Vsm and brought in Piriajr on loan. 

Other teams, such as Astralis, FlyQuest, and Ninjas in Pyjamas, opted out of the global qualifiers. Some teams that are competing in the global closed qualifiers are Fnatic, BC.Game, and Gentle Mates. Fnatic parted ways with blameF, and signed Maden earlier this month. 

As with the Americas qualifiers, four teams from the open qualifiers will earn spots in the closed qualifiers. 

Furthermore, two teams from the global qualifiers and one from the Americas will secure spots in the main event from April 13 to 19. 

With this event, IEM Rio 2026, it is the first Tier 1 Counter-Strike event in Brazil in two years. The only other occasion was IEM Rio 2022, and NAVI won. 

The Teams Competing at IEM Rio 2026

Here's a complete list of the teams competing at this Tier 1 event: 

• Americas Qualifiers: Imperial Esports, Fluxo, BESTIA, YNG Sharks, four teams TBD. 
• Global Qualifiers: Parivision, HEROIC, BC.Game, FUT Esports, 9INE, K27, EYEBALLERS, Fnatic, HOTU, Gentle Mates, BetBoom Team, Gamer Legion, and four teams TBD. 
• Main Event: FURAI, 3DMAX, Team Liquid, G2 ESports, Passion UA, Team Vitality, Team Falcons, Team Spiri, Legacy, B8, Aurora Gaming, MOUZ, the defending IEM Rio champs NAVI, and three teams TBD. As mentioned, two teams from the global qualifier and one from the Americas Qualifiers will join the fray. 

You can watch IEM Tio 2026 on the official ESL Twitch and YouTube channels.