Esports Tournaments to Look Out for in 2026

We’re well into 2026 already, and the Esports scene looks more alive than ever. Plenty of games are topping the charts in Esports, and each of them has at least a few tournaments/events to watch out for this year. Some games have already had some riveting tournaments occur this season, such as Counter Strike's recent Cluj-Napoca tournament. However, since we’re early enough into 2026, the best is still ahead of us.

Esports has come a long way since its beginnings, and it has evolved into an incredible industry with an unimaginable number of fans worldwide. Plenty of people love to tune in or even go physically to tournaments featuring the most popular Esports, and the passion that they show is really something to be proud of.

While this is by no means an exhaustive list, it will document the biggest and most important happenings in each game’s respective Esports scene, as well as some honorable mentions featuring slightly less popular games (at least, less popular compared to the well-known heavy hitters in the industry).

Counter Strike 2

Counter Strike has a lot going for it this year, and March in particular is looking to be a month full of some incredible experiences for fans of CS Esports. This month will feature both Season 23 of ESL’s Pro League tournament, of which the finals will be about midway through the month as well as BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026. The BLAST tournament features a prize pool of $1.1 million, and its finals will be held on the 29th of March.

Though, if you want to tune in to view the entire tournament play out, it starts on the 18th. Taking a look at what the rest of the year will bring, there are two major tournaments to look out for. The first is IEM Cologne 2026. Cologne has happily hosted plenty of Counter Strike Major tournaments, and 2026 seems to be no exception.

This year’s IEM Cologne will take place throughout the month of June, and while we don’t yet know exactly which teams will participate, there are some decent, educated guesses to be made. Vitality currently seems unstoppable, so it would be fair to say that they most likely plan to attend and give it their all this year.

Winning one or both majors this year would really solidify their status as one of the best lineups that CS Esports has ever seen. It remains to be seen if other teams can put together enough of a fight to stop them.

The other major tournament for CS this year is PGL Singapore 2026. The tournament itself will feature many more teams compared to Cologne, as it’s starting off with 32 of them, in comparison to Cologne’s 16. Additionally, it will feature a prize pool of $1.25 million, which will be slightly higher than Cologne’s $1.17 million. Singapore will be held in November and December of this year, so little is known about the details of it, but you should obviously take note of it if you’re a fan of Counter Strike Esports.

League of Legends

LoL overall features an interesting and unique Esports scene of its own. Of course, as is the case with League of Legends, the 2026 Season World Championship (Worlds 2026) takes center stage, with all kinds of playoffs taking place throughout the year to help determine who will get to compete in the prestigious final tournament that is there to cap off LoL’s 2026 competitive season.

Winning Worlds has always been the highest achievement one could possibly obtain in their competitive careers, and the major prize pools provide an additional incentive for teams to bring nothing but their best performances to Worlds every single year. 

Worlds is, of course, taking place at the end of the year. Specifically, from the 16th of October through to the 14th of November. If you’re a fan of League, make sure to tune in to the playoffs this year, and then to the main World Championship tournament. 

Valorant

Valorant is the second game from Riot Games to make it into the upper echelons of Esports fame, and it’s still quite relevant in the grand scheme of things. It’s an impressive take on the Counter Strike inspired “twitch shooter” genre of game, and it has an impressive schedule of Esports tournaments slated for 2026. There are three that stand out as the most important, and they’re the three international tournaments that are scheduled to be held this year.

The first is actually going on right now through to the 16th of March, and it’s Masters Santiago. An interesting location for an Esports tournament, Santiago is of course the capital of the country of Chile. It’s an excellent choice and the current tournament seems to be going smoothly. It features a very exact $1,000,000 prize pool, and it will welcome 12 teams. First place will receive $350,000.

The second international tournament taking place later this year is Masters London, which will take place from the 6th of June through to the 21st.  It too features a $1,000,000 prize pool, as well as the same number of teams as Chile’s tournament (that being 12). The finer details are not yet known about Masters London, and the same goes for exactly which 12 teams will participate. Regardless, it’s sure to be a great experience for Valorant Esports fans alike.

The final tournament of note for Valorant is of course, Valorant Champions. This year, it’s in Shanghai, and will be taking place in September and October of 2026. The prize pool is $2.25 million, and 16 teams will be accepted into the tournament.

First place will receive an even $1 million sum for their triumph, and second, third, and fourth place will receive $400,000, $250,000, and $130,000 respectively. Like with London, not much is known about the details of the tournament. However, Valorant Champions is Valorant Champions, and it will most likely be an exhilarating tournament nonetheless.

Rocket League

A bit of a break in genre from the other entries, Rocket League enjoys a vibrant and loyal Esports viewer base that tunes in to view tournaments of all sorts throughout the current season.

Rocket League’s Esports season is absolutely dominated by RLCS. That stands for Rocket League Championship Series, and it’s Rocket League’s crowning jewel as far as Esports goes. The Esports season, as far as major tournaments are concerned, is fielded by the RLCS and its supporting majors. Though, these majors are worth talking about.

The first Major has already taken place in the Agganis Arena, located in Boston, USA. It saw Gentle Mates win and secure $102,000 of the $354,000 prize pool, while Vitality took a respectable second place.

The second major will take place in a couple of months, in May to be specific. It will take place in Nanterre, France, at Paris La Défense Arena. Not too much is known yet about this major, other than the fact that it too has a $354,000 prize pool and that it will take 16 teams from different regions of the world, none of which have been decided as of yet.

Both of these majors of course lead into the biggest Rocket League tournament of the year. The Rocket League Championship Series 2026 will take place in September of this year, spanning just six days. It will take 20 teams and has a prize pool of $1,200,000. This is the one to watch out for, and if you’re a fan of Rocket League Esports, it’s the one you don’t wanna miss.

Dota 2

The second title to appear today that was created by the famous company Valve (Full name: Valve Corporation), Dota 2 is a game rich with Esports history and prestige. All one has to do is take a look at the biggest prize pools in Esports history, and they would quickly find seven of the top ten slots taken up by Dota’s famous major tournament: The International (commonly referred to as “TI”).

While TI’s prize pools have been heavily reduced since 2023, Dota remains extremely relevant in Esports as a whole, with Valve dropping game changing balance patches from time to time that shake things up majorly for every new season of Dota 2 Esports.

While TI is of course the tournament that everyone is watching out for, it does take place months from now, in August. Until then, the schedule isn’t empty for Dota 2. Dreamleague, PGL, and BLAST are all hosting big events for Dota 2, and the details of all three are as follows.

The first tournament of these three is PGL Wallachia Season 8. PGL Wallachia has become a greatly entertaining long going series of tournaments, and this season’s rendition of it will be held from the 16th through to the 26th of April. While it’s true that April isn’t far, it’s still far enough away that, as of writing, it is unknown which teams will participate in the tournament.

However, it does feature a $1 million prize pool and the details will hopefully all be released and catalogued soon enough. The next one is Dreamleague Season 29. 29 seasons into Dreamleague, Season 29 is taking place as scheduled, with another $1 million prize pool, as well as 28,300 EPT points that will accordingly be rewarded to each team.

EPT (ESL Pro Tour) points are ESL’s way of determining which teams will be eligible to go on and compete in even bigger tournaments later this year that are hosted by them. They’ve introduced the EPT points system in games such as Dota 2 and Counter Strike 2.

The last big tournament before TI is BLAST Slam VII. There isn’t too much to be said about this one that hasn’t been said about the last two, other than the fact that it closely follows Dreamleague Season 29, and the fact that it takes place in the beautiful city of Copenhagen. It’s definitely a great choice for those looking to spend some time in Denmark and catch a large CS tournament while they’re there. 

Overall, Dota 2’s Esports scene is looking packed with events leading up to and including TI, so be sure to stick around for an exciting first half of 2026 in the world of Dota 2 esports.

Other Games

While the heavy hitters have already been mentioned, other games still have quite prominent Esports scenes, often backed by the developers of the games themselves. One good example would be Tekken 8. Tekken has had a long history in the world of video gaming and has had some incredible competitive moments in the past as well.

While the release of Season 2 soured the opinions of many on the game as a whole, some improvements have been made. The big thing is Season 3 soon being on the way, with the Developers promising improvements on the game. If they manage to pull the game out of its lowest state since release, it’s sure to see a much bigger resurgence in both its casual and competitive playerbases.

The fighting game genre seems ripe with potential to become a big hit in Esports; it’s just never quite gotten there and hit it as big as some other games have. Whether it ends up being Tekken, or another game such as Street Fighter or Guilty Gear: Strive, the fighting genre will hopefully sooner or later see a bigger piece of the Esports pie.

One more game worth mentioning is Valve’s Work in Progress title, Deadlock. While Deadlock technically hasn’t yet made a full release, it’s not hard to get your hands on the game, especially if you have a friend who can invite you to Deadlock in order for you to gain access to it.

The game is shaping up to be something quite special, and many have faith that Valve will deliver on this interesting new premise (though, this being Valve, don’t expect it to be a very speedy delivery). This is one game that, of course, sports no major Esports tournaments for now, but it’s one to watch upon its eventual release to the wider public.