Team Falcons, Nigma Galaxy win groups at Esports World Cup

Team Falcons and Nigma Galaxy finished atop their groups on Saturday to advance to the Dota 2 playoffs at the Esports World Cup in Paris.

Team Falcons (4-0-1) posted a 2-0 sweep of Xtreme Gaming to complete the round-robin action in Group A, winning in 59 minutes on red and 42 minutes on green. Nigma Galaxy (4-0-1) swept PlayTime to wrap up Group B, winning in 66 minutes on red and 44 minutes on green.

Team Falcons and PARIVISION stand alone atop their groups, while 1w and Team Yandex share first place and Aurora Gaming is tied with Nigma Galaxy after Thursday's action at the Dota 2 event of the Esports World Cup in Paris.

The Dota 2 event at the Esports World Cup is the final championship of the ESL Pro Tour, now in its fourth season. The tournament has a $2 million prize pool, with $750,000 and 1,000 club points going to the first-place team.

The format consists of three phases: a group stage (through Sunday) of four groups of six teams competing in a round robin, a survival phase (July 14-15) formatted into a single-elimination bracket that will see four teams advance, then a final playoff stage (July 16-19), which is single elimination.

All matches in Phase 1 are two games, while the matches in Phases 2 and 3 are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.

The four group winners advance directly to the playoffs. Teams finishing second, third and fourth in each group move to the survival stage, with the remaining teams eliminated.

Also Saturday in Group A, BetBoom Team (3-0-2) swept GamerLegion (1-3-1) and Rune Eaters (1-1-3) did the same to Poor Rangers (0-4-1). In Group B, Aurora Gaming (3-0-2) and Team Liquid (2-1-2) tied while Level UP (1-4-0) swept L1 Team (0-4-1).

The Esports World Cup features competition in 25 titles and a $75 million prize pool. This week's events also include Valorant, Apex Legends and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. Upcoming events include League of Legends, PUBG, EA Sports FC, Call of Duty: Warzone, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Rocket League, Counter-Strike 2 and Fortnite.

Sunday's schedule:

Group C:

--PARIVISION vs. Team Spirit

--MOUZ vs. Vici Gaming

--REKONIX vs. Team Nemesis

Group D:

--1w vs. Team Yandex

--OG vs. Virtus.pro

--LGD Gaming vs. Inner Circle x Insanity

Dota 2 Esports World Cup group-stage standings (match record W-L-T, map record):

Group A

1. Team Falcons, 4-0-1 (9-1)

2. BetBoom Team, 3-0-2 (8-2)

3. Rune Eaters, 1-1-3 (5-5)

4. Xtreme Gaming, 1-2-2 (4-6)

5. GamerLegion, 1-3-1 (3-7)

6. Poor Rangers, 0-4-1 (1-9)

Group B

1. Nigma Galaxy, 4-0-1 (9-1)

2. Aurora Gaming, 3-0-2 (8-2)

3. Team Liquid, 2-1-2 (6-4)

4. PlayTime 1-2-2 (4-6)

5. Level UP, 1-4-0 (2-8)

6. L1 TEAM, 0-4-1 (1-9)

Group C

1. PARIVISION, 4-0-0 (8-0)

2. Team Spirit, 3-0-1 (7-1)

3. Vici Gaming, 2-2-0 (4-4)

4. MOUZ, 1-1-2 (4-4)

5. Team Nemesis, 0-3-1 (1-7)

6. REKONIX, 0-4-0 (0-8)

Group D

T1. 1w, 3-0-1 (7-1)

T1. Team Yandex, 3-0-1 (7-1)

3. OG, 1-1-2 (4-4)

T4. LGD Gaming, 1-2-1 (3-5)

T4. Virtus.pro, 1-2-1 (3-5)

6. Inner Circle x Insanity, 0-4-0 (0-8)

--Field Level Media

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This story was originally published July 11, 2026 at 10:19 AM.