Vitality Win IEM Krakow 2026 and Confirm Their Champion Status
The French powerhouse continued its era of dominance, with ZywOo once again redefining greatness in CS2.
Vitality became champions of IEM Krakow 2026 after defeating FURIA 3:1 in the grand final. Following a loss on Mirage (11:13), the French squad seized control of the series and confidently closed it out on Inferno (13:8), Nuke (13:2), and Overpass (13:10).
The key figure of the final was Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. The best player of 2025 delivered one of the strongest matches of his career, posting a 1.66 series rating, 101 ADR, a 90–41 K/D, and 27 multi-kills. His consistency and spectacular multi-kills repeatedly shut down FURIA’s attempts to get back into the game.
Vitality’s path to the title looked extremely convincing. In the group stage, the team comfortably defeated BC.Game and 3DMAX, then survived a tough clash with Aurora before leaving no chances for MOUZ in the semifinals. The grand final only cemented Vitality’s status as a dominant force that successfully carried its era from 2025 into 2026. Overall, the entire team displayed a level of play far above their opponents, and watching such CS was truly incredible.
For FURIA, the loss was painful, especially considering their strong comeback on Mirage and an otherwise successful tournament. However, after the opening map of the series, the Brazilian-Kazakh lineup failed to maintain an even contest: Nuke turned into a rout, and on Overpass Vitality calmly closed out the match.
As a result, Vitality claimed their first trophy of 2026 and confirmed the championship status previously secured at the StarLadder Major Budapest. ZywOo once again reminded everyone why he is regarded as the greatest player of the era.
The French star delivered the best elite tournament performance of his career and earned a record-breaking 29th MVP award. In addition, Mathieu became the first player in history to win at least one MVP title for eight consecutive years.
Overall, Vitality won an IEM event in Poland for the second year in a row — last year it was IEM Katowice, and this year IEM Krakow. Despite the venue change, the trophy remains the same. The team now needs just one more ESL tournament victory to achieve another milestone — a second consecutive Grand Slam.
IEM Krakow 2026 also became the most-watched tournament in history outside of Majors. At its peak, the grand final attracted 1,370,524 viewers.