Team Vitality crowned IEM Kraków 2026 champions

Team Vitality has been crowned the IEM Kraków 2026 champion, adding another Tier 1 Counter-Strike 2 trophy to its collection.

The French esports organisation defeated Brazilian organisation FURIA 3-1 in a hotly-contested Grand Final in the Polish city.

After making its way through the Group Stage without conceding a map, Team Vitality made light work of MOUZ in the semi-finals to secure a place in another high-profile Grand Final.

FURIA opened the best-of-five on Mirage with the early advantage, before a force-buy win in the second round halted any kind of momentum. Shahar ‘flameZ‘ Shushan kept FURIA on the back foot before four eliminations from Yuri ‘yuurih‘ Santos gave FURIA some hope heading into the second half with a 9-3 deficit to overturn.

FURIA flicked a switch in the second half to overturn a disappointing opening half. A crucial one-versus-two clutch from Danil ‘molodoy‘ Golubenko in round 22 provided the final push, completing an impressive comeback to take a 13-11 win.

Inferno saw Team Vitality enter another gear, with Mathieu ‘ZywOo‘ Herbaut demonstrating why he’s considered the world’s best thanks to several multikills in both halves. A 13-8 win levelled the series as attention turned to Nuke.

Team Vitality dominated Nuke, with FURIA only managing to win two rounds on its offensive half thanks to Team Vitality’s superior defensive strategy. Victory in the second pistol round resulted in Team Vitality securing Nuke with a dominant 13-3 scoreline to close in on victory.

Overpass had the making of another one-sided contest, with Team Vitality racing to a five-round lead, led by four eliminations from ZywOo in the opening pistol round. FURIA answered back with some solid defensive holds to end the half all-square at 6-6.

Success in the second pistol round for FURIA gave the February VRS chart-toppers the lead for the first time since Mirage, but Team Vitality answered back with flameZ scoring four unanswered eliminations to swing the momentum in its favour.

ZywOo and Dan ‘apEX‘ Madesclaire scored four consecutive kills of their own, resulting in Team Vitality racing to a 13-10 win to take the series 3-1.

Over the course of the four maps, ZywOo scored 90 eliminations alongside 101 ADR to cement his place as Counter-Strike 2’s best player. Whether it’s with a pistol or the AWP, ZywOo’s continued impact proved crucial as Team Vitality holds its place as the world’s top team.

Victory in Kraków marks Team Vitality’s tenth Tier 1 victory in the last 12 months as the European roster continues to assert its dominance in Valve’s first-person shooter title.

The team has four days before it returns to action at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026, where it opens its Group Stage campaign against a G2 Esports side that showed signs of promise in Kraków.

Taking place from February 14th to 22nd, Cluj-Napoca features 16 teams competing for a share of a $625,000 (~£459,565) prize pool.