Team Vitality wins IEM Rio; completes back-to-back Grand Slams

Team Vitality defeated Team Spirit 3-0 in the IEM Rio 2026 Grand Final in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first team to win consecutive ESL Grand Slams, achieved in consecutive years.

The French roster recorded its fourth tournament win of the year and entered the event as the world No. 1 Counter-Strike 2 team. Standout performances came from Robin ‘ropz’ Kool and Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut as Vitality closed the final in straight maps. Team Spirit’s Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets did not reach his usual level in the Grand Final and Team Spirit failed to take a map.

Brazilian side FURIA finished fourth after losing the third-place match 0-2 to Team Falcons. Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo played what was billed as his final home-stage match in Rio de Janeiro.

Organizers reported the tournament drew more than 1.1 million concurrent viewers at its peak. Broadcasts accumulated over 22.6 million hours watched and averaged 444,267 viewers, roughly 1.5 times the average viewership of the 2024 edition. IEM Rio 2026 became the 23rd Counter-Strike 2 event to surpass 1 million peak concurrent viewers.

The Grand Final registered the highest concurrent audience. The Vitality–FURIA semifinal also crossed the 1 million mark, driven by English- and Portuguese-language audiences. Organizers reported that the number of unique channels carrying the matches more than doubled compared with 2024 and that the prize pool was increased to $1 million.

Full match-by-match statistics are still being compiled and will be released when complete. The next major stop on the calendar is BLAST Rivals Spring 2026 in Fort Worth, Texas, scheduled for April 27 to May 3, which will also feature a $1 million prize pool.