Year after year, the most-awaited tournaments on the Counter-Strike 2 professional calendar are none other than the CS2 Majors. Officially called the Major Championships, they are premier tournaments sponsored by Valve itself.
While other big-name events, such as IEM Katowice/Cologne and the BLAST Premier World Final, all have their appeal, CS2 Majors are in a league of their own. In 2026, two Major titles will be awarded: once in June and again in December. But where exactly are these elite competitions going to be held?
For the first time in years, the annual IEM Cologne tournament will be an official CS2 Major in 2026. The Cathedral of Counter-Strike will be the battleground of 32 teams fighting for the prize pool of $1,250,000 and the privilege of crowning themselves as kings in the LANXESS Arena.
The 2026 IEM Cologne Major will run from June 2 to 21 and feature three Swiss Format stages before an eight-team single-elimination playoff bracket decides who gets to call themselves the champions of Cologne.

ESL is the tournament organizer for June’s Major, and participating teams will also be playing for an additional incentive: a notch in the ESL Grand Slam. The Valve Regional Standings will be used to determine the teams that will make it to Stage 1, Stage 2, or Stage 3 automatically.
The bottom eight teams of each opening stage will lose their Major spots, as the top eight teams from Stages 1-3 will keep progressing. While still early, of the thirty-two teams that will compete, some of the top teams that are expected to make it to Stage 3 through the qualification system include the likes of Budapest Major champions Vitality and Shanghai Major victors Team Spirit.
In November, the Major circus heads to Southeast Asia for the first time in Counter-Strike history. Singapore will host the region’s first Major from November 25 to December 13, with the grand final and other playoff matches to be played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The Singapore prize pool will be the same as that of Germany’s, with a total money share of $1,250,000 again. With a resurgence of Asian Counter-Strike teams and players, a Major in Singapore can be viewed as only the first step in introducing more prestigious tournaments to the SEA region.
PGL Singapore will be the second Major of 2026 and is expected to be the final stop for all teams before the year ends. Should they be able to keep up their current form, the Asian teams to watch come November are The MongolZ and FlyQuest.
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