Falcons Eliminate Vitality From Major - Spirit Await Them in the Semifinals

Team Falcons have eliminated Team Vitality from IEM Cologne Major 2026 and become the final semifinalist of the tournament. Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s team defeated one of the main Major favorites in a tense 2:1 series.

The match was extremely close, with no blowouts or easy maps. Falcons started with a 13:11 win on Anubis, but Vitality quickly answered on Inferno, where they stole the map with the same narrow scoreline - 13:11. Everything came down to Dust2, and once again Falcons stayed colder in the final rounds. The team closed out the decider 13:11 and sent Vitality home.

For Falcons, this victory looks especially loud. Before the playoffs, there were plenty of questions around the team: karrigan’s condition, a difficult bracket, and a quarterfinal clash against Vitality right away. But instead of an early exit, Falcons took one of the most important series of the tournament and will now face Team Spirit.

Vitality ended their IEM Cologne Major 2026 run in 5th–8th place and earned $45,000 in prize money. For Dan “apEX” Madesclaire’s team, this is a painful result: their favorite status was not enough to get past even the first round of the playoffs.

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Now fans will get a massive semifinal clash between Falcons and Spirit. IEM Cologne Major 2026 is taking place in Germany from June 2 to 21, with a total prize pool of $1.25 million.