ESL announces invited teams for IEM Rio 2026

ESL has revealed the list of teams that have received invitations to IEM Rio 2026. The tournament will return to Rio de Janeiro after skipping 2025 and will take place from April 13 to 19. The playoffs will be held at the Farmasi Arena during the final three days of the competition.

A total of 16 teams will compete in the main event. Direct invitations were granted to Vitality, FURIA, Falcons, MOUZ, Natus Vincere, Spirit, G2, Aurora, B8, 3DMAX, Liquid, Passion UA, and Legacy. Three additional slots will be decided through closed qualifiers — two from the global qualifier and one from the Americas region.

ESL also announced the teams invited to the closed qualifiers. The global qualifier will feature PARIVISION, GamerLegion, HEROIC, Gentle Mates, BC.Game, FUT, BB Team, fnatic, EYEBALLERS, HOTU, 9INE, and K27, along with teams advancing from open qualifiers. In the Americas qualifier, invitations were issued to Imperial, Fluxo, Sharks, and BESTIA.

There were also several notable declines. FaZe and The MongolZ turned down invitations to the main event, while Astralis, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FlyQuest, paiN, NRG, and M80 will not take part in the qualifiers.

The prize pool for IEM Rio 2026 will amount to $1 million, and the tournament will also count toward the ESL Grand Slam race.