FUT Esports, Team Spirit advance to Stage 3 at IEM Cologne

Field Level Media|published: Sun 7th June, 23:47 2026

YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year.

FUT Esports and Team Spirit are onto Stage 3 at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major in Germany, winning their Round 3 high matches on Sunday to become the first two teams to advance out of Stage 2.

They will await six more teams to join them in Stage 3, as the Swiss System format plays out through Tuesday to determine the 16 participants in Stage 3. Eight other teams have already earned berths into the stage: Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, Team Falcons, The MongolZ, PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming, FURIA and MOUZ.

Teams are competing for their share of the Counter-Strike 2 tournament's $1.25 million prize pool with the grand final scheduled for June 21. The champion receives $500,000.

Advancement and elimination matches in Stage 2 are best of three. All other Stage 2 matches are a single map.

In Sunday's first high match, Spirit throttled 9z Team, winning 13-3 on Mirage and 13-1 on Nuke. Danil "donk" Kryshkovets of Russia led the way with 48 kills and a plus-32 kills-deaths differential in the win. Argentinian Luciano "luchov" Herrera led 9z with 21 kills.

In the second high match, FUT beat G2 Esports 13-11 on Anubis before G2 turned the tables with a 13-7 win on Overpass to even the match. FUT took the final map, winning 13-4 on Ancient. Dmytro "dem0n" Myroshnychenko of Ukraine and Kosovo's Aulon "Krabeni" Fazlija led FUT with 47 kills apiece (with dem0n sporting a plus-10 differential to Krabeni's plus-8). Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina led G2 with 46 kills.

In the stage's first two elimination matches, B8 sent GamerLegion packing with a pair of 13-11 wins on Inferno and Nuke, respectively, sandwiched around a 13-8 win by GL on Mirage. PaiN Gaming made quick work of FlyQuest in the other eliminator, winning 13-7 on Nuke and 13-10 on Anubis.

In the four mid matches, Monte beat Legacy 13-11 on Ancient, TYLOO topped Astralis 13-6 on Nuke, BIG took down MIBR 13-8 on Inferno and BetBoom Team dominated M80 13-2 on Dust II.

Stage 3

Monday schedule

High matches (advancement)

Monte vs. BetBoom Team

TYLOO vs. 9z Team

G2 Esports vs. BIG

Low matches (elimination)

Astralis vs. paiN Gaming

MIBR vs. B8

Legacy vs. M80

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major prize pool

1. $500,000