IEM Cologne 2026 Quarter-finals: Day 1 Recap
The first day of play has come to a close at the Lanxess, confirming two semi-finalists. The playoffs of IEM Cologne 2026 began with BetBoom taking on Aurora and followed up with a South-American derby to conclude the first half of the quarter-finals bracket. Here's a quick look at how things went down.
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Aurora stomp 
BetBoom to make semi-finals
Aurora kicked off proceedings against BetBoom who were making their maiden playoffs appearance at a Major. After BetBoom picked up pistol and anti-eco wins on the T-side of Nuke, Aurora strung up a solid streak on their CT-side to secure a marginal 7-5 lead at halftime. A near-flawless T-side from Aurora netted them a 13-6 win on Nuke with XANTARES dropping 24 frags.
The second map took us to Anubis, one of Aurora's stronger maps. Aurora got off to a 5-1 start on the CT-side but BetBoom clawed their way back to split the half 6-6. BetBoom fell apart on the CT-side, winning just three rounds off of retakes as Aurora went 7-3 to close Anubis 13-9 and wrap the series 2-0. Aurora sent BetBoom packing to book a semi-final spot, making history for Turkish Counter-Strike.
AuroraBetBoom| Aurora |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın |
37 - 28 | +9 | 103.3 | 87.8% | 1.56 |
| Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş |
46 - 30 | +16 | 112.8 | 87.8% | 1.49 |
| Özgür 'woxic' Eker |
38 - 21 | +17 | 84.8 | 95.1% | 1.45 |
| Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli |
30 - 21 | +9 | 73.2 | 78.0% | 1.18 |
| Caner 'soulfly' Kesici |
21 - 27 | -6 | 70.8 | 70.7% | 0.96 |
| BetBoom |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniil 'd1Ledez' Kustov |
27 - 34 | -7 | 73.1 | 61.0% | 1.01 |
| Kirill 'Magnojez' Rodnov |
35 - 36 | -1 | 73.0 | 58.5% | 0.99 |
| Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov |
25 - 33 | -8 | 72.0 | 68.3% | 0.97 |
| Aleksandr 'zorte' Zagodyrenko |
20 - 37 | -17 | 66.5 | 80.5% | 0.72 |
| Timur 'FL4MUS' Marev |
20 - 34 | -14 | 55.4 | 51.2% | 0.66 |
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FURIA end 
9z's impressive Cologne run
9z turned heads with their group stage run where they took down Vitality, PARIVISION, AURORA and pushed Spirit to their absolute limits. The second quarter-final of IEM Cologne 2026 featured 9z and FURIA in a South-American derby. 9z carried forward their group stage form, pushing FURIA down to a 3-9 disadvantage on Dust2. In the blink of an eye, 9z had taken a map off of FURIA and FalleN's side was up against elimination in the second map.
After a grueling 6-6 T-half, FURIA picked up the pace on their CT-side, restricting 9z to just three rounds. FURIA came back from their 8-13 loss on Dust2 to secure a 13-9 win on Mirage to level the series. The decider took us to Overpass where yuurih and FalleN dropped ratings in excess of 1.60 in the first half to fetch FURIA a 9-3 lead on their CT-side. FURIA closed Overpass 13-6 to end 9z's Cologne run and make it to the semi-final.
9zFURIA| 9z |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Luciano 'luchov' Herrera |
39 - 45 | -6 | 71.3 | 74.2% | 1.04 |
 Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez |
33 - 34 | -1 | 54.1 | 75.8% | 1.02 |
 Matias 'HUASOPEEK' Ibañez Hernandez |
44 - 43 | +1 | 79.7 | 72.6% | 0.95 |
| Franco 'dgt' Garcia |
35 - 41 | -6 | 66.1 | 75.8% | 0.89 |
| Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer |
38 - 38 | +0 | 57.7 | 69.4% | 0.84 |
| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
40 - 34 | +6 | 85.6 | 79.0% | 1.20 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
42 - 44 | -2 | 78.8 | 69.4% | 1.16 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
40 - 37 | +3 | 70.4 | 75.8% | 1.09 |
 Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko |
43 - 38 | +5 | 67.5 | 69.4% | 0.97 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
30 - 38 | -8 | 46.9 | 58.1% | 0.79 |
The remaining quarter-final matches on the other side of the bracket are:
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G2 vs Spirit (19/06/2026 | 07:15 PM IST) -
Vitality vs Falcons (19/06/2026 | 10:30 PM IST)
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