Spirit are the champions of Esports World Cup 2026 after beating FUT 3-1 in the grand final (10-13 Cache, 16-13 Anubis, 16-14 Ancient, 13-5 Nuke).
It is the second title for Spirit this year after their win at PGL Astana, and caps off a successful Esports World Cup campaign that saw them finally snap a six-match losing streak to Vitality in the quarter-finals en route to the trophy. The win is also vindication for Sergey "hally" Shavaev, who has faced increased scrutiny and criticism since returning to the roster after the team showed an uptick in form under Dmitry "S0tF1k" Forostyanko in hally's absence.
The championship decider marked the first meeting between Spirit and FUT, the latter of whom went into the grand final undefeated in Paris and beat MOUZ and FURIA in the playoffs. Aulon "Krabeni" Fazlija's men didn't crumble immediately under the pressure of playing in their first Big Event grand final, taking the fight to Spirit across the first three maps, but ran out of steam on Nuke after narrowly losing Ancient in overtime.
FUT gambled on a Cache pick to start the series, marking their debut on the map after they made use of their shared Inferno permaban with Spirit to remove Dust2 instead.
FUT's aggressive, brawly style of Counter-Strike fit the map like a glove, and they showed no fear as they charged to a 3-0 start before a clutch from Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov put Spirit on the board, with Myroslav "zont1x" Plakhotia adding multi-kills to take a 6-3 lead.
A 1v2 from Krabeni helped FUT keep the game level at the break, and their unrelenting aggression truly took over on the CT side. A second pistol win and defensive takeover by Yasin "xfl0ud" Koç (140 ADR) then saw FUT charge to a 12-6 lead and eventually put to bed a Spirit comeback to draw first blood in the series.
A third pistol win allowed FUT to carry that momentum into Anubis, but this time their 4-1 start went up in smoke against a stalwart Spirit defense. sh1ro, Danil "donk" Kryshkovets, and Andrey "tN1R" Tatarinovich combined in a dominant spree that carried into the second half, with FUT winning just one round out of ten as Spirit charged toward map point, 11-5.
Spirit struggled to close, however, and couldn't weather the storm of a resilient FUT defense. That 11-5 lead became 12-8 and soon 12-12 as Spirit choked their lead, but they were resuscitated by tN1R in overtime as the Belarusian rifler got eight frags in three rounds to regain map point, 15-12, before Spirit closed out two rounds later.
Ancient was equally competitive as another early spree from FUT gave way to a late resurgence by Spirit, who capitalized on a triple from donk on a partial buy to keep the game level at 6-6. Dmytro "dem0n" Myroshnychenko and Džiugas "dziugss" Steponavičius then found a few multi-kills to emerge on top of an embattled early brawl in the second half, eventually taking the lead 12-9, but couldn't convert on their lead as Boris "magixx" Vorobiev and tN1R found multi-kills to close the deficit.
Frustration then boiled over for FUT as dem0n fell a single bullet shy of closing the map with a 1v3 clutch, and Spirit took over in overtime to extend FUT's losing streak on Ancient to nine in a row.
That loss haunted FUT as Nuke got underway, where Spirit transcended. They were unstoppable on the attack, led early by tN1R before zont1x took over with a few high-impact multi-kills, and a 10-2 lead at halftime proved too large a deficit for Krabeni's side to claw back from.
Andrey 'tN1R' TatarinovichPast 3 months
Spirit
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev
Andrey 'tN1R' Tatarinovich
Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia
Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Sergey 'hally' Shavaev
Džiugas 'dziugss' SteponavičiusPast 3 months
Myroslav 'zont1x' PlakhotiaPast 3 months
Dmytro 'dem0n' MyroshnychenkoPast 3 months
MOUZ
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Sergey 'hally' Shavaev
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
Boris 'magixx' VorobievPast 3 months
Danil 'donk' KryshkovetsPast 3 months
Yasin 'xfl0ud' KoçPast 3 months
FUT
Yasin 'xfl0ud' Koç
Dmytro 'dem0n' Myroshnychenko
Aulon 'Krabeni' Fazlija
Nikita 'cmtry' Samolotov
Džiugas 'dziugss' Steponavičius
András 'coolio' Fercsák
Dmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovPast 3 months
Dmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoPast 3 months
Aulon 'Krabeni' FazlijaPast 3 months
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo