Falcons head the team list for IEM Beijing 2026 after Vitality and Spirit both opted to skip the $1.25m Counter-Strike event in the Chinese capital, HLTV reports. Theirs were the only two declines from the ten invites handed out on the global Valve Regional Standings, and PARIVISION and FaZe have taken the vacated tickets.
MOUZ and Natus Vincere are the next two highest-ranked teams in attendance. FURIA, champions of the event's predecessor at IEM Chengdu in 2025, are also making the trip, as are Legacy, BetBoom, G2 and Aurora, all of whom accepted their invitations.
The field so far
The confirmed line-up, drawn from the invite routes, breaks down as follows:
- Global VRS invites accepted: Falcons, MOUZ, Natus Vincere, FURIA, Legacy, BetBoom, G2 and Aurora.
- Replacement invites after the declines from Vitality and Spirit: PARIVISION and FaZe.
- Regional representation: Liquid for North America, 9z for South America and The MongolZ for Asia.
That accounts for 13 of the 16 places. The final three spots will be decided by qualifiers, with one on offer in Asia and two in Europe, meaning the closed portion of the field is settled and only the qualifier routes remain open.
HLTV notes that the team list is ordered from the August 3 edition of the Valve Regional Standings, the ranking snapshot the tournament used to allocate its global invitations. Vitality's and Spirit's absences remove two of the circuit's most decorated rosters from a tournament that carries the same $1.25m purse as its Chengdu predecessor, and hands FaZe and PARIVISION a place they did not earn on the ranking cut-off.
