Graphics by John Carl Acosta

PARIS, France — Team Spirit overcame an early deficit against FUT Esports with a 3-1 victory in the best-of-five grand final of the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 Counter-Strike 2 tournament at the Accor Arena, Sunday, August 23.

FUT struck first on Cache, taking control of the opening map and closing out a 13-10 win to grab an early 1-0 lead.

Spirit answered on Anubis as Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov delivered key rounds to keep the Russian side in the fight.

The comeback continued as Spirit held its nerve through the late rounds and took Anubis, 16-13, leveling the series at 1-1.

With the series tied, both teams traded rounds on Ancient as FUT continued to pressure Spirit’s defense.

Spirit found the crucial openings late in the map and edged FUT, 16-14, to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

With the championship one map away, FUT needed a response on Nuke to force a deciding fifth map.

Instead, Spirit took control early and turned Nuke into its most dominant map of the series.

Donk led the attack as Spirit pulled away from FUT and closed the map, 13-5, completing three straight map wins after dropping Cache.

The victory secured Spirit’s EWC 2026 CS2 championship, while FUT settled for the runner-up spot after reaching the grand final.

Donk capped the comeback with the series MVP award, posting an 88-70 kill-death record, 91.9 ADR, and 1.36 rating.

Spirit’s triumph closed out the Paris tournament, which featured 32 teams competing for a $2-million prize pool.

Article by Carl Dotingco