Falcons’ IEM Cologne run ranks among toughest Major paths

Falcons won the IEM Cologne Major in June 2026 after defeating three top-five teams in the knockout stage. The quarterfinals saw a 2-1 win over world No. 1 Vitality, the semifinals produced a 2-1 victory against No. 3 Spirit, and the final ended with a 3-0 result versus No. 5 FURIA. Those opponents had an average pre-event HLTV ranking of 3.

The team added Finn “karrigan” Andersen to the roster shortly before the event and entered the knockout rounds as underdogs. Falcons had also beaten Natus Vincere during the Swiss stage, a 2-1 result that preceded the playoff matchups.

Cloud9’s ELEAGUE Major 2018 run remains the only Major playoff path with a lower average opponent ranking, at 2.67. Cloud9’s playoff wins were against G2 (No. 5), SK (No. 1) and FaZe (No. 2). Astralis’ FACEIT Major London 2018 run had an average opponent rank of 3.33. Natus Vincere’s PGL Stockholm 2021 run averaged 4.3, and Vitality’s BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 path averaged 4.7.

The metric used for comparing paths is the opponents’ pre-event HLTV ranking in the knockout stage. Falcons’ average of 3 reflects that every playoff opponent was ranked inside the top five at the time of the event.

On media day before the playoffs René “TeSeS” Madsen described the motivation of picturing a path that began with Vitality and continued through other top teams: “I like the storyline that I can build in my head of first taking down Vitality, then Spirit or G2, whoever comes against us. It’s only good teams from here on out, and for me, that’s very motivating.” The comment was made ahead of the knockout rounds.

After the final, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač called the Major trophy a milestone he had worked toward for years: “I dedicated almost my whole life to” winning a Major, he said.

Team management pointed to karrigan’s arrival as a factor in recent results, saying the roster change helped the group perform consistently during the event. Match results and the pre-event rankings provide the basis for ranking the difficulty of playoff paths.

Falcons’ title in Cologne joins a shortlist of Major winners that faced top-ranked opponents in every playoff round. The ranking comparisons are drawn from pre-event HLTV positions and the recorded knockout-stage match outcomes for each cited Major.