CS2 Tournament Calendar 2026: Every Major Event, Date, and Prize Pool

The 2026 CS2 Tournament Schedule: Major Events, Dates, and Prizes

There’s a full year’s worth of CS2 esports to look forward to in 2026, with two Valve Majors, the $2 million Esports World Cup, more than a dozen S-tier events by ESL, BLAST, PGL, FISSURE, and StarLadder. We anticipate over $25 million to be up for grabs in prize money across the year, with more additions possible.

Below is our up-to-date, month-by-month calendar of all confirmed CS2 tournaments taking place in 2026. Bookmarking this page is advised, as we will update the winner column as each competition concludes.

What changed for 2026

Some aspects of the CS2 tournament scene are set to change significantly from 2025.

The IEM Cologne tournament has been elevated to a Valve Major, a long-overdue distinction for “The Cathedral of Counter-Strike,” and will take place in the LANXESS Arena in June.

IEM Krakw has taken the place of the traditional Katowice event, taking place in January and February at the TAURON Arena Krakw, though organized by the same company as IEM Katowice. The original Katowice Spodek Arena is back on the schedule for ESL Pro League Season 24 later in the year.

The Valve Ranking System (VRS) will determine all team placements for events and serve as the primary method for selecting teams through direct invites for nearly every tournament, so losing smaller tournaments has an impact for top teams due to point loss.

ESL will hold 7 events, while PGL will host 5, and BLAST returns with their typical three formats of Bounty, Open, and Rivals; FISSURE also increases its events to 3 Playground tournaments.

January 2026

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026	12-25 Jan	Malta	$625,000	32	PARIVISION
IEM Kraków 2026	28 Jan – 8 Feb	Kraków	$1,250,000	24	Vitality

The year opened with a shock. PARIVISION swept Falcons 3-0 in the BLAST Bounty final to win their first major CS2 trophy. Then IEM Kraków went exactly as everyone predicted, with Vitality lifting the new TAURON Arena trophy.

February 2026

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026	9-23 Feb	Cluj-Napoca	$1,250,000	16	Vitality
ESL Pro League Season 23	27 Feb – 15 Mar	Stockholm	$1,000,000	24	NAVI

Cluj-Napoca was Vitality’s third trophy in a row. ZywOo dropped a 1.39 rating across the event. Nobody else came close. NAVI took ESL Pro League while Vitality and Falcons sat it out.

March 2026

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
BLAST Open Spring 2026	16-29 Mar	Rotterdam	$1,100,000	16	Vitality

Vitality 3-0 NAVI in the final. The first of two identical sweeps over the Ukrainian roster this year.

April 2026 (the busiest month)

April was packed. Four S-tier events back to back across three continents.

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
PGL Bucharest 2026	3-13 Apr	Bucharest	$1,250,000	16	FUT Esports
IEM Rio 2026	13-19 Apr	Rio de Janeiro	$1,000,000	16	Vitality
FISSURE Playground 3	20-26 Apr	Shenzhen	$1,000,000	16	Cancelled
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026	27 Apr – 3 May	Fort Worth	$1,000,000	8	Vitality

The biggest upset of the spring came in Bucharest. FUT Esports went undefeated through the whole event and beat Astralis 3-1 in the final, picking up the Turkish team’s first Tier-1 trophy. cmtry won MVP. A week later in Rio, Vitality beat Spirit 3-0 to claim their fourth straight title and the first back-to-back ESL Grand Slam in CS history. BLAST Rivals Spring closed the month with another Vitality 3-0 over NAVI.

May 2026

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
PGL Astana 2026	7-18 May	Astana	$1,600,000	16	TBC
IEM Atlanta 2026	11-17 May	Atlanta	$1,000,000	16	TBC
CS Asia Championships 2026	18-24 May	Shanghai	$1,000,000	16	TBC

PGL Astana has the largest non-Major prize pool of the spring. It overlaps with IEM Atlanta, so teams have to pick.

June 2026

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
IEM Cologne Major 2026	2-21 Jun	Cologne	$1,250,000	32	TBC

The big one. Cologne has not hosted a Major since 2014, and this one closes the first half of the year. Direct invites are based on April VRS Global rankings. After Cologne, the player break starts. Most teams use July for roster moves and bootcamps.

July 2026

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
FISSURE Playground 4	13-19 Jul	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBC
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026	20 Jul – 2 Aug	Malta	$650,000	32	TBC

August 2026

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
PGL August 2026	6-16 Aug	TBD	$1,250,000	16	TBC
Esports World Cup 2026	12-23 Aug	Riyadh	$2,000,000	32	TBC
BLAST Open Fall 2026	24 Aug – 6 Sep	TBD	$1,100,000	16	TBC

EWC has the biggest prize pool of the year by a long way. Teams treat it differently than other events because of the multi-game format and the points it offers in the wider EWC standings.

September 2026

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
FISSURE Playground 5	7-13 Sep	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBC
StarLadder StarSeries September 2026	11-20 Sep	TBA	TBA	16	TBC
ESL Pro League Season 24	21 Sep – 11 Oct	Katowice	TBA	TBA	TBC

Spodek is back. ESL Pro League Season 24 brings the old Katowice arena back on the schedule.

October 2026

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
Eden Esports Forge of Legends 2026	13-18 Oct	TBA	$500,000	TBA	TBC
PGL Belgrade 2026	22 Oct – 1 Nov	Belgrade	$1,250,000	16	TBC

November 2026

Name	Date	Location	Prize Pool	Teams	Winner
IEM China 2026	2-8 Nov	China	$1,000,000	16	TBC
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026	9-15 Nov	TBA	$1,000,000	8	TBC
PGL Major Singapore 2026	25 Nov – 13 Dec	Singapore	$1,250,000	32	TBC

PGL Major Singapore is the second Valve Major of the year and the first ever in Southeast Asia. It closes out 2026.

Which events are actually worth watching

Twenty-five-plus tournaments is too many for any normal person to keep up with. Here is how I would triage your time.

Must-watch:

• IEM Cologne Major (June)
• PGL Singapore Major (November to December)
• Esports World Cup (August)

Worth blocking time for:

• BLAST Bounty Winter and Summer (the format produces upsets)
• IEM Kraków (new venue, big prize pool)
• BLAST Open Rotterdam and Fall (consistently strong fields)
• PGL Astana (biggest non-Major prize pool of the year)

Highlights are fine:

• ESL Pro League seasons (long groups, easier to catch up via recap)
• Smaller PGL events
• Regional CS Asia stuff unless your team is in it

How the VRS works (and why every event matters)

Worth understanding if you are following the season seriously: the Valve Ranking System (VRS) decides invite slots for almost every major event. Tournaments take a snapshot of VRS standings 1-3 months before the event and hand out direct invites based on those rankings.

That means a team can play great in May and still miss a Major if their VRS was low in April. It also means top teams cannot just skip smaller tournaments. Every event is points, every point matters.

For Vitality this year, this is not a problem. They have won five S-tier events in a row and sit at the top of every list. For everyone else, the math is tight.

Where to follow live results

Live scores and brackets are on our CS2 tournaments hub. For deeper stats and player tracking, HLTV is still the place. Tournament organizers also have their own coverage: BLAST.tv for BLAST events, ESL for IEM, and PGL for their events.

Can anyone stop Vitality?

The PGL Singapore Major is the obvious headline for the second half. But the question on everyone’s mind is whether someone can finally beat Vitality. Five trophies. 27 playoff maps in a row without a loss. Back-to-back ESL Grand Slams, the first ever in CS. ZywOo putting up MVP numbers at every event.

NAVI are the second-best team right now, but they have lost every meeting with Vitality this year. PARIVISION are the wildcard after their Bounty Winter title. FUT Esports came out of nowhere in Bucharest and could do it again. MOUZ, Falcons, and Spirit are the other names with a real shot.

If you only follow CS2 casually, the IEM Cologne Major in June and the PGL Singapore Major in November are the two to watch. The rest is buildup or fallout.

For ongoing CS2 news and roster moves, our CS2 news section tracks everything as it happens.