Format:
Single Elimination
About
Counter-Strike 2 makes its Esports Nations Cup debut, introducing one of the world’s most storied esports to a country/territory-based competitive format. The top lineups will clash on the ENC stage, with every match helping define the competitive order and shape the opening chapter of Counter-Strike at the Esports Nations Cup.
The winner of Esports Nations Cup 2026 Ireland will represent Ireland at the EU West Qualifiers on Jul 17th - Jul 19th, with a shot of qualifying for the main event in November. The Esports Nations Cup will not award any direct invitations for Counter-Strike 2, as all participants must qualify through the qualification circuit. Instead, the ENC Ranking will be used to determine country/territory eligibility for the 96 available Qualifiers, with a cut-off aligned to the June update. This ranking is based on the Valve Ranking System (VRS), which assigns points to each player. The ranking and points for Ireland were as follows (as of 2026-06-27) :[1]
| Ranking
|
Points
|
Players with points contribution
|
| 45th
|
2361
|
Extinct (910) / arTisT (910) / micalis (541)
|
Rules
Expand to see the full list of rules for this event:
Format
- Type: Single-Elimination Bracket
- Series Type(s): All matches are Best of Three (Bo3)
Registration
- Sign-Ups: Registrations will close 48 hours before the first scheduled round's start time. Make sure to sign up and complete the requirements before this deadline - no new teams will be added afterwards.
Requirements
- Age: sixteen (16)+ only
- Citizenship: All Players must be citizens of the country/territory of the qualifier they play in. The FACEIT Tournaments system will check for the Country set in each member's Account Settings as a join requirement, instead of a user's geolocation.
- ID Verification: All Players must be ID-Verified on FACEIT to compete in the qualifiers.
- Professional players: No more than three (3) professional players from the same club may be registered on a single roster. Please refer to point 1.4.1 of the Player Eligibility Rulebook for what constitutes a professional player.
Seeding
- The June VRS ranking: The Counter-Strike 2 VRS ranking will be used to determine country/territory eligibility for the 96 available National Qualifiers, and to seed them at the ENC Finals. No country or territory will receive a direct invitation to the Finals.
- Cumulative FACEIT ELO points of the Players: In the event that the VRS ranking (and its players) contains less than 96 countries/territories, an additional ranking will be established based on the sum of the FACEIT ELO of the top 40 active players from each country or territory not part of the VRS ranking, measured during the full month of May.
Game Settings
- Game mode : 5v5
- Server locations : Netherlands, UK, Germany, Sweden, France, Finland
- Elo : Off
Prize Pool
Qualification to the Europe West Regional Qualifiers for the top team.
| Place
|
Prize
|
Team
|
 1st
|
Europe West Regional Qualifiers Spot
|
|
 2nd
|
-
|
|
 3rd / 4th
|
-
|
|
| 3rd / 4th
|
-
|
|
Participants
TBD| 1 |  TBD |
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| 2 | TBD |
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| 3 | TBD |
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| 4 | TBD |
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| 5 | TBD |
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TBD| 1 | TBD |
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| 2 | TBD |
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| 3 | TBD |
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| 4 | TBD |
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| 5 | TBD |
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TBD| 1 | TBD |
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| 2 | TBD |
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| 3 | TBD |
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| 4 | TBD |
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| 5 | TBD |
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TBD| 1 | TBD |
|---|
| 2 | TBD |
|---|
| 3 | TBD |
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| 4 | TBD |
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| 5 | TBD |
|---|
Bracket Stage
External links
References
1st
2nd
3rd / 4th
