IEM Cologne Major 2026: All the teams, favorites, and outright betting odds

Owen Harsono Published 01/06/2026

Mark your calendars, as the IEM Cologne Major kicks off on June 2, 2026. We’re going to see the best teams in the world compete, but which ones are actually favored to take the title?

This will be the first time in 10 years that IEM Cologne will return as a Counter-Strike Major, so the stakes this year are much higher than they’ve been in a decade. In this guide, we’ll take a look at all participating teams and which ones have the best shot at bringing home the trophy.

IEM Cologne Major teams and outright winner betting odds

The IEM Cologne Major will feature 32 teams. With it being a Major, you can bet all the best CS2 teams in the world like Team Vitality and Team Spirit are in attendance.

However, the IEM Cologne lineup is pretty top-heavy – some teams have a significantly higher chance of winning than others. To get a good idea of the favorites coming into the event, we can use outright odds to paint a picture.

Here are all the teams competing at the IEM Cologne 2026 Major and their chances of winning the entire thing:

Team Vitality are the clear favorites at IEM Cologne

Judging by the outright odds and results over the past six months – it’s clear Team Vitality are the heavy favorites to bag the IEM Cologne trophy.

The French-based squad won the last two Majors in 2025, and have won five out of seven S-tier tournaments they participated in this year. With CS2 betting odds of 1.72 to win the event, their implied probability of taking the title sits at 58.14%.

Image credit: Stephanie Lindgren for BLAST

It’s extremely rare to see a team have over a 50% chance to win an entire event before it even starts, so that alone should already tell you something.

As bizarre as it sounds, these odds are completely justified. Team Vitality are looking like the best team in Counter-Strike’s 20-year history, and winning this Major title would cement them as that.

Who can deny Team Vitality of the title?

Though most fans predict Vitality to lift the trophy in Cologne, there are three other squads with the potential to snatch it away.

Team Spirit come in as secondary favorites after their recent win at PGL Astana 2026. If there’s one player who can take down Vitality’s stacked roster, it’s donk – and he’s been playing exceptionally well over the past few months.

Image credit: PGL

Not trailing too far behind are Natus Vincere, who took down Vitality at IEM Atlanta 2026 to take the title. NAVI are one of only three teams to have beaten ZywOo and company this year, and there’s always a chance they do it again here in Cologne.

Last but not least, we can’t write off Team Falcons with their newest addition of karrigan. Like NAVI, Falcons are one of the three teams to beat Vitality in 2026. Though the Saudi-backed squad tends to choke in grand finals, who knows – they could send Vitality packing if they meet in the quarters or semis.

Overall, it feels impossible to take down Vitality in a Best of 5. So the best shot at taking them down is in the quarters or semis, where it’s a Best of 3.

Featured image credit: Team Vitality

Owen Harsono

About Owen Harsono

Owen lives for competition, spending most of his gaming hours on Dota 2, CS2, and Valorant. A regular on the SEA Dota 2 leaderboards, he combines his first-hand experience with a deep passion for esports journalism, following the professional scenes of all three esports betting titles religiously. When he’s not writing, he’s most probably betting on esports and watching the latest events.

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