IEM Cologne 2026 Tickets: How to Buy, Schedule, Prize Distribution, and More

The Cathedral of Counter-Strike is yet again about to shine as fans brace themselves for yet another IEM Cologne 2026 major tournament. The tickets have finally gone live, and fans can finally fulfil their dream to watch their favourite CS2 player at the LANXESS arena, Germany.

A total of 32 top-tier teams across different regions will participate in this S-Tier Counter-Strike 2 Major Championship, and all eyes will be on the shiny trophy and a handsome amount of $1,250,000 USD Prize pool. That said, this article will cover all the pivotal aspects of the Major tournament, such as schedule, potential participants, and more. Moreover, we'll also mention how to buy IEM Cologne 2026 Tickets online.

How to buy IEM Cologne 2026 Tickets

CS2 enthusiasts around the world must be wondering how to buy IEM Cologne 2026 tickets. Well, you don't have to worry as we'll discuss a few straightforward steps to purchase the IEM Cologne 2026 tickets:

• Navigate to Intel Extreme Master's official page.
• Scroll down till you find the IEM Cologne 2026 section, and click on the prompt showing “Show Event page”.
• After navigating to the Cologne event page, scroll down a bit and purchase any one of the tickets as per your affordability.

If you're still unable to find the ticket links, here's a quick link to directly redirect you to the official page.

Keep in mind that, unfortunately, the first wave of tickets is already sold out. However, the authorities have announced two more waves so that enthusiastic fans don't miss out on watching their favourite esports Personality on the big stage. The Wave 2 will start on October 22, 2025, and the Wave 3 is scheduled to start on October 29, 2025. So, mark your dates on the calendar, as you don't want to waste this amazing opportunity to purchase the second wave of IEM Cologne 2026 tickets before they sell out.

IEM Cologne 2026 Schedule and Format

Like most Major tournaments in the past, the Counter-Strike 2 IEM Cologne 2026 will happen in four stages. The first three stages of the tournament will follow the Swiss System Format, and the top 8 teams will proceed to the next stage. Moreover, all the Elimination and Advanced matches will be played in a BO3 (Best-of-3) format, and the rest will be played in a BO1. Lastly, the Playoffs stage will follow and single-elimination bracket and will follow a BO3 format. That said, here's a detailed schedule:

While the matches of the first three stages will be hosted in Palladium Concert Hall in Germany, the teams that'll reach the Playoffs stage will step onto the LANXESS arena, a venue with a larger audience capacity.

IEM Cologne 2026 Prize Pool

The IEM Cologne 2026 Major has a massive prize pool of $1,250,000 USD. And the huge amount will be distributed among 32 teams across various regions. Here's a summary of the distribution:

IEM Cologne 2026 Participating Teams

ESL Counter-Strike has yet to announce all 32 participating teams' names in the upcoming S-Tier tournament (Major). However, sources have confirmed that the Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3 invites will depend on Valve Regional Standings in April 2026. Considering the current scenario of the competitive scene, dominating rosters like Team Vitality, Team Falcons, The MongolZ, and many more tier-1 teams are expected to receive a direct Stage 3 invite. Meanwhile, Team Spirit might enter the tournament as the defending champions.

Regardless of the current condition, we'll make sure to update the list once it officially goes live on different platforms. So, it's quite evident that the tournament will be exciting, and make sure to purchase IEM Cologne 2026 tickets quickly to catch the nail-biting matches in the LANXESS Arena, Germany. You can also check out our coverage on the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 on our official website.