Fnatic and BC.GAME have did not qualify for IEM Rio 2026 following early eliminations within the on-line world qualifiers.
The pair misplaced decisive matches within the 16-team closed qualifier, which is going down from January twenty first to twenty third, 2026.
Disappointment For Fnatic
Following a first-round exit from the BLAST Bounty Season 1 on-line qualifiers, Fnatic had a chance to rebound instantly in one other Tier 1 qualifier. Nevertheless, the crew was outclassed in its first higher bracket map in opposition to KOLESIE, a crew that superior from the open qualifiers.
A 13-9 defeat on Historic adopted by a 13-2 loss on Inferno despatched Fnatic into the decrease bracket, the place GenOne, one other crew from open qualifiers, would await.
GenOne’s superior defence held agency on Historic, securing a 13-4 win to place Fnatic instantly on the again foot. The black and orange responded on Anubis with a 13-8 win, sending the best-of-three to a Mud II decider.
Extra time was required to separate the 2 sides on Mud II, however GenOne emerged victorious with a 16-14 scoreline to safe a shock 2-1 sequence victory and remove Fnatic.
BC.Recreation Misses Out
After buying the SAW core through the low season, BC.Recreation seemed to capitalise on a brand new roster able to scoring stable ends in Tier 1 tournaments. Regardless of this, the crew was dropped into the decrease bracket byf Ursa, one other crew from the open qualifiers.
To stay within the qualifier, BC.Recreation confronted off in opposition to Group Nemesis in a prolonged best-of-three, disrupted by Valve launching an replace introducing a wealth of modifications to Anubis.
BC.Recreation struck first with a 13-6 win on Nuke, however couldn’t construct any momentum. Group Nemesis responded with a 13-9 Inferno win to stage the sequence, earlier than closing out the sequence with a 13-11 win on Historic to ship Oleksandr ‘s1mple‘ Kostyliev’s crew packing.
IEM Rio 2026 Closed Qualifiers
With two notable names out of the working, the IEM Rio 2026 closed qualifiers proceed. The likes of Mild Mates, 9INE, and BetBoom Group stay in rivalry to earn one in all two locations in the principle occasion going down within the Brazilian metropolis from April thirteenth to nineteenth.
Followers can tune into the motion throughout ESL’s Twitch and YouTube channels to see which groups be a part of a few of the world’s greatest in Rio.
