There are still a bunch of big Counter-Strike 2 tournaments planned before the focus shifts to the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2026 event in April, but this hasn't stopped the ESL from starting to talk about it.
The tournament organiser has now revealed the invited teams for the event. The main event will feature a total of 16 organisations, 13 of which are confirmed via direct invitation, and three of which will be determined through qualification matches.
Looking at the qualifiers first, the Global Closed Qualifier will determine two more squads for the main event, and as for the teams set to compete in this qualifier, they are the following:
- Parivision
- Heroic
- FUT Esports
- BC.Game Esports
- GamerLegion
- BetBoom Team
- Gentle Mates
- Hotu
- Fnatic
- Eyeballers
- K27
- 9ine Pulsabet
The final qualified team comes from the Americas Qualifier, where only the following four organisations are set to battle it out:
- Imperial Esports
- Fluxo
- Bestia
- YNG Sharks
As for the main event and who will for certain be in appearance and hoping to lift the trophy and walk away with the majority of the $300,000 prize pool, these teams have been invited:
- Passion UA
- Furia
- Team Vitality
- Team Falcons
- Team Spirit
- Natus Vincere
- Mouz
- Aurora Gaming
- B8
- Legacy
- G2 Esports
- Team Liquid
- 3DMax
IEM Rio will commence on April 13 and run until April 19, all at the Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
