The International 2026 is in the books, and it ended with a line that nobody had written before: Team Spirit are three-time champions of The International. On August 23 at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, Spirit defeated TEAM VISION 3–2 in a grand final that went the full distance, and in doing so became the first organization in the tournament's history to lift the Aegis of Champions three times.
The road to Shanghai
TI 2026 — the fifteenth International — gathered 16 teams: seven direct invites and nine teams from regional qualifiers across Europe, China, Southeast Asia, South America and North America. The event ran from August 13 to 23, with a Swiss-style group stage from August 13 to 16 and the main event in front of a live audience from August 20 to 23.
It was Shanghai's second time hosting the event, making it the only city outside Seattle to host The International more than once. The organizers leaned into the setting, including an ornamental Aegis embroidered over four months by a Suzhou embroidery artist.
Final standings
| Place | Team | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team Spirit | $1,416,786 |
| 2 | TEAM VISION | $433,431 |
| 3 | Team Yandex | $299,984 |
| 4 | BoomBoys | $200,034 |
| 5–6 | Team Liquid, Nigma Galaxy | $166,673 each |
| 7–8 | Iron Wing, Team Falcons | $133,790 each |
| 9–13 | Vici Gaming, Aurora Gaming, Team Resilience, GamerLegion, LGD Gaming | — |
| 14–15 | Xtreme Gaming, OG | — |
| 16 | HULIGANI | — |
Five games, one Aegis
A 3–2 grand final is always a story about adaptation, and this one was no exception. Both teams entered the series with deep hero pools shaped by patch 7.41's removal of Facets, which had forced every professional squad to relearn hero identities built around the new innate abilities. The drafts reflected that: rather than locking in a fixed style, both teams mirrored each other's priorities and fought over the same flexible heroes early in the draft.
TEAM VISION were the story of the tournament for many fans. Their run to the grand final announced them as a genuine title contender, and taking Spirit to a deciding fifth game in their first TI final is the kind of result that builds a legacy. The runner-up prize of over $430,000 is a reward for a run few predicted.
Spirit, meanwhile, did what they have done in each of their title runs: they arrived with a clear read on the patch and they refused to panic when games slipped away. Their ability to reset between games — conceding a map and coming back with a completely different draft — has become the team's signature.
What the third Aegis means
Before 2026, the record for most International titles was two, held by OG (2018 and 2019) and Team Spirit (2021 and 2023). Spirit now stand alone. More than any statistic, the achievement underlines how well the organization has built and rebuilt rosters across different metas, patches and competitive formats.
What comes next
The competitive calendar does not pause for long. PGL Wallachia Season 9 starts on September 17 in Bucharest, followed by BLAST Slam VIII (September 29 – October 11) and BLAST Slam IX (November 17–29), billed as the last tier-1 tournament of the 2026 season. Patch 7.41f landed on September 15, so every team — the champions included — heads into the autumn with a slightly different game to solve.
Follow our Tournaments hub for schedules, results and community pick'em predictions throughout the season.
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