BLAST Open Porto 2026: Teams, Format and Prize Pool

BLAST Open Porto 2026 puts the entire HLTV top six in one bracket: Falcons, Spirit, FURIA, Vitality, MOUZ and Natus Vincere all play for a $1.1M prize pool. It starts on August 26, three days after the Esports World Cup 2026 final — ten of the sixteen teams fly to Copenhagen straight from the EWC playoffs.

BLAST Open Porto 2026 format: two cities, two stages

The event is split geographically. The group stage runs August 26–31 in BLAST's Copenhagen studios and cuts sixteen teams down to six. The playoffs then move to Portugal: September 4–6 at the Super Bock Arena — Pavilhão Rosa Mota in Porto.

Groups are double elimination, every match a BO3. The group winner goes straight to a playoff semi-final, while the second and third-placed teams drop into the quarter-finals. The playoffs are single elimination, BO3 throughout, with a BO5 grand final.

This is BLAST's fourth event in Portugal — after Lisbon in 2018, 2022 and 2025 — and the first one in Porto.

The field: 12 invites and four qualifiers

Twelve teams were invited directly off the VRS ranking as of the July 6 cutoff. Four more came through the regional Rising qualifiers: Inner Circle (Europe), DENDELE (South America), Lynn Vision (Asia) and M80 (North America).

Ranks are from the HLTV ranking of August 20, 2026. The line-up changed after the announcement: BetBoom withdrew over visa issues — the same problem that has followed the team all year, including a Major played without S1ren. paiN took the slot as the highest-seeded closed qualifier runner-up.

Groups

Group A has three obvious contenders for three playoff spots — Natus Vincere, Spirit and FURIA — and opens with Aurora against G2. Group B is heavier at the top: Falcons, Vitality and MOUZ share it with Legacy and FUT, so one of them is going home from Copenhagen.

Prize pool: $400,000 to players, $700,000 to clubs

The $1.1M pool is split in two: players share $400,000 by placement, while another $700,000 goes to the clubs.

What to watch

• Vitality's stand-in. mezii is on paternity leave, so jL steps in and makes his debut against Inner Circle.
• Paris fatigue. Ten teams arrive in Copenhagen straight from the EWC playoffs; four more — M80, Lynn Vision, 9z and paiN — were knocked out there in groups. Three days between events leaves no room for prep.
• Vitality chasing a reset. They won the last BLAST Open in Rotterdam but slid down the ranking over the summer; Porto is their way back into the title conversation.
• The Rising four. Inner Circle, DENDELE, Lynn Vision and M80 sit outside the top 25, so any win over a top-10 side is the upset of the week.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does BLAST Open Porto 2026 start?

The group stage runs from August 26 to August 31, 2026. The playoffs are played September 4–6. The four days in between are the flight from Denmark to Portugal.

Where is the tournament played?

It is split across two cities: the groups are played in BLAST's Copenhagen studios without a crowd, and the playoffs move to the Super Bock Arena — Pavilhão Rosa Mota in Porto. It is BLAST's first event in Porto.

How big is the BLAST Open Porto 2026 prize pool?

The total pool is $1,100,000. Players share $400,000 by placement: $150,000 for first, $60,000 for second and $40,000 each for third and fourth. The remaining $700,000 goes to the clubs.

How many teams advance from the groups?

Six of the sixteen teams reach the playoffs. Each group winner goes straight to a semi-final, while the second and third-placed teams start in the quarter-finals.

Bracket and results

The group stage and playoff brackets are pulled in automatically from HLTV and update as the event goes — we never fill them in by hand. The rest of the calendar lives on the CS2 tournaments page, and current form is in the team ranking.