Falcons wins the IEM Cologne Major 2026

Falcons have won the IEM Cologne Major 2026 after beating FURIA 3-0 in the Grand Final. The Major win sees NiKo win his first-ever Counter-Strike Major after he teamed up with karrigan once again a couple of months ago. Along with a host of first and records being broken, it was also zonic's sixth Major as a coach, with a third different organisation.

It was m0NESY walking away with the MVP title, as the Russian star AWPer picked up his first Major title and first Major MVP award.

Falcons' Russian youngsters make the difference on the opening map

Impact from m0NESY saw Falcons start FURIA's pick of Mirage with the CT pistol and it was a clean eco as karrigan's MP7 picked up a triple. The first gun round of the way saw FURIA almost turn around a 3v5 after TeSeS opened with a double but it was kyousuke and m0NESY turning around a 2v3 to keep Falcons' run going. A m0NESY triple saw Falcons convert a 3v5 for themselves as Falcons' CT side continued to stop every single attack which saw them go 8-0 up before a molodoy opener on the A site finally saw FURIA get on the board. Late resurgence from FURIA as molodoy's AWP found impact and helped FURIA end the half with four in a row to see Falcons take an 8-4 lead.

Source: ESL

A B hit with a triple from kyosuke saw Falcons win both pistols on Mirage but molodoy's Deagle saw FURIA answer with the upgraded pistol buy. The Deagle heroics continued as m0NESY and kyousuke's Deagles replied for Falcons and karrigan's boys hit map point off that. FURIA put up a couple of rounds to make the scoreboard respectable before NiKo and TeSeS turned around a 3v5 to see Falcons start with a 13-8 win.

m0NESY steps up once again

m0NESY kick off Anubis from where he left off on Mirage as his Dualies started Falcons' first pick with a 1v2 retake on the A site. After a 4-0 start, it was the Tec-9s of FURIA seeing them get on the board. FURIA picked up five in a row to take the lead on Anubis and barring a late quad kill round from NiKo, it was FURIA ending their T side with a 7-5 win. A quick B hit made sure Falcons continued to pick up the pistols and after the conversions, it was Falcons back in the lead as they hit double digits. molodoy's AWP saw FURIA find their first and what turned out to be only CT round as multi-kills from kyousuke and and m0NESY saw Falcons go 2-0 up after a 13-8 win.

Source: ESL

No more heartbreak on Inferno for karrigan and NiKo

Inferno got going with FURIA picking up their first pistol win of the series as they converted a B hit. Falcons replied with the force thanks to kyousuke's double with the MP9. Falcons stole a round with a triple from karrigan's USP that gave them momentum to storm to an 8-4 half. Falcons hit the B site to even out the pistols on Inferno and while KSCERATO and molodoy found some big multi-kill rounds to keep FURIA alive, back-to-back B hits saw Falcons ease to a comfortable 13-8 win.

Source: ESL