NAVI beats Aurora in Grand Final, ends title drought

Natus Vincere captured the ESL Pro League Season 23 championship on March 15 at Annexet Arena, defeating Aurora Gaming 3-1 in the Grand Final. The win is NAVI’s first title of 2026 and ends a drought that dated to September 2025.

Season 23 used a revised format. Early rounds were played online, and the playoffs returned to a live audience at Annexet Arena. A best-of-three third-place match served as the lead-in to the final. PARIVISION, FURIA Esports, G2 Esports, Team Liquid, and FaZe Clan were eliminated in the Online Stage.

NAVI reached the final after wins over The MongolZ and FUT Esports. Aurora advanced by beating Legacy and Astralis. In the title match, NAVI closed out the series 3-1.

Preliminary audience data showed mixed trends. Average viewership fell 17% from the previous season, while peak concurrent viewership rose 19%. The Grand Final peaked at about 752,000 concurrent viewers, the event’s high. Streams in Ukrainian and Turkish drew strong numbers, reflecting the finalists’ fan bases. Viewing on Twitch increased compared with Season 22, while YouTube viewership declined.

Ukrainian streamer Leb1ga’s co-stream of the final reached a personal record of more than 76,400 concurrent viewers. The semifinals-NAVI vs. FUT Esports and Aurora vs. Astralis-rounded out the three most-watched series of the event.

By peak audience, the Season 23 final now ranks third in ESL Pro League history, behind the grand finals of Seasons 20 and 14. NAVI appeared in and won each of those three matches.

Next on the Counter-Strike calendar is BLAST Open Spring 2026, scheduled for March 18-29 in Copenhagen and Rotterdam, with several Season 23 teams, including NAVI and Aurora, in the field.