IEM Rio 2026: Everything You Need To Know And More

Tournament format

The first three days of the event will be for the Group Stages. Here, teams will be split off into two groups of eight teams each, battling it out in a double-elimination bracket to secure one of the top three seeds of each group. After a two-day break, the playoffs will be held over the span of two days, from October 11th to 12th, where six teams will compete in a single-elimination format. Finally, the grand final will be held on the final day, October 13th, where the winner will qualify for IEM Katowice next year.

The Group A Teams & Matchups:

NAVI vs. Imperial Esports

Team Liquid vs. Complexity

FURIA Esports vs. FaZe Clan

paiN Gaming vs. MOUZ

Group B Teams & Matchups:

9z vs. Team Vitality

Virtus.pro vs. TheMongolZ

Astralis vs. Eternal Fire

HEROIC vs. G2 Esports

Talents at the event

With such a monumental event right around the corner, it’s not surprising to see the amazing talent that will be making it all the more memorable. Tres "⁠stunna⁠" Saranthus and Freya "⁠Freya⁠" Spiers will host a desk featuring Joshua "⁠steel⁠" Nissan, Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović, and Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche.

Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill and Alex "⁠Machine⁠" Richardson will be one of two duos on the A stream alongside Adam "⁠Dinko⁠" Hawthorne and Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole. On the B stream matches, you will hear duos Neo "⁠Ne0kai⁠" Caine and Travis "Trav" Landaw Mott as well as Lucy "LucyLuce" Eastwood and Brandon "BDog" Rawlings.

Finally, James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks will be tasked with doing interviews on the sidelines.

Predictions for the event

Going into the event, everyone has their eyes on G2 Esports, who just bagged the trophy for BLAST Fall Final on Sept. 29, 2024, after besting NAVI 3-1 in the grand finale. They’ve also had a pretty consistent year overall, winning IEM Dallas, placing second at the Esports World Cup, and earning 3rd/4th place at ESL Pro League Season 20. Most of the momentum is riding on G2 so let’s see if they’re able to capitalize off that!

Fans also have not forgotten the powerhouse that is Team Vitality. With ZywOo still a force to be reckoned with, teams can not take the Vitality lightly. However, given that they’ve only won one S-Tier event the whole year thus far (IEM Cologne 2024), they might struggle to close out the tournament. Nonetheless, they are expected to advance quite far into the playoffs and even win the whole thing if they break the curse!

Ranking and statistics-wise, the real team everyone should watch out for is NAVI, who is currently ranked the #1 team in the world. Despite having a rather one-sided loss against G2 Esports in the recent BLAST Fall Final, there’s no denying their track record. Apart from reaching five grand finales this year, they have won three S-Tier events: PGL Major Copenhagen, Esports World Cup, and ESL Pro League Season 20.