RLCS 2026 Paris Major: Everything You Need to Know About the Tournament

The RLCS 2026 Paris Major is set to begin very soon and will become one of the biggest events in the 2026 Rocket League esports calendar.

This tournament is the second LAN event of the year for Rocket League and will bring together 16 of the world’s best teams from seven different regions. Players will compete for a massive prize pool and crucial RLCS points required to qualify for the World Championship and the Esports World Cup 2026.

Tournament Format

The Paris Major will feature two main stages: the Group Stage and the Playoffs. All matches will be played in a best-of-5 format, except for the final five playoff matches, which will be best-of-7.

Group Stage (May 20–21)

The 16 teams are divided into four groups of four teams each. Every group uses a round-robin format, where each team plays every other team once.

• Group winners advance directly to the upper bracket of the playoffs.
• Teams finishing 2nd and 3rd move to the lower bracket.
• Teams finishing 4th are eliminated from the tournament.

Playoffs (May 22–24)

The playoffs use a hybrid 12-team bracket system.

• Group winners receive the advantage of “two lives” until the semifinal stage (Final Four).
• Teams placed 5th–12th after groups begin in the lower bracket and can afford only one loss.

Participating Teams

Teams from seven global regions qualified for the Major through strong performances in regional competitions.

Group A

• Team Vitality (Europe)
• Karmine Corp (Europe)
• Wildcard (Oceania)
• FUT Esports (North America)

Group B

• NRG (North America)
• MIBR (South America)
• Spacestation Gaming (North America)
• Man City Esports (Europe)

Group C

• Twisted Minds (MENA)
• Ninjas in Pyjamas (Europe)
• Shopify Rebellion (North America)
• R8 Esports (MENA)

Group D

• Gentle Mates (Europe)
• TSM (APAC)
• Five Fears (Sub-Saharan Africa)
• FURIA (South America)

Dates and Venue

The Paris Major will take place from May 20 to May 24, 2026, at the massive Paris La Défense Arena in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris.

The first two days of the tournament will feature closed-door group stage matches. Starting on Friday, fans will be allowed into the arena to watch the remaining 12 teams battle for the championship title live.

Event Schedule

• Wednesday, May 20 — Start of the group stage
• Thursday, May 21 — End of the group stage
• Friday, May 22 — Playoffs begin with live audience attendance; only lower bracket matches will be played
• Saturday, May 23 — Continuation of the lower bracket and start of upper bracket matches; eliminations will reduce the field to six teams
• Sunday, May 24 — The final five matches of the tournament, all played in best-of-7 format to crown the RLCS Paris Major 2026 champion

Prize Pool

Teams will compete for a share of the $354,000 base prize pool, along with valuable RLCS ranking points.

Prize Distribution

• 1st place — $102,000 + 36 RLCS points
• 2nd place — $51,000 + 24 RLCS points
• 3rd–4th place — $36,000 + 16 RLCS points
• 5th–6th place — $22,500 + 12 RLCS points
• 7th–8th place — $15,000 + 8 RLCS points
• 9th–12th place — $9,000 + 6 RLCS points
• 13th–16th place — $4,500 + 4 RLCS points

Additionally, teams and players will receive extra financial support through the in-game Rocket League Paris Major Bundle. The bundle costs 1,000 credits, and 100% of the net revenue from sales will be distributed among tournament participants.

As a reminder, Riot Games appears to have removed D4vd’s song from the official Season 2 soundtrack playlist of Arcane on Spotify.