The final three Stage 2 (Legends) arrivals close out the team-arrival sequence for IEM Cologne Major 2026. The full arrival picture as of June 1 morning:
Stage 2 (Legends) — eight teams
- Aurora: landed 22:14 CEST May 31 from Almaty via Istanbul (Turkish Airlines TK1881). The no-bootcamp policy means this is the team's first contact with Cologne for the tournament cycle. Hotel check-in completed by 00:30 CEST June 1.
- Falcons: scheduled 13:30 CEST June 1 from Riyadh direct (Saudia SV125). Bootcamp at the Riyadh facility closed May 31 evening, with the team flying the morning of June 1.
- PARIVISION: scheduled 12:45 CEST June 1 from Moscow via Belgrade (Air Serbia JU653), same routing as Spirit's May 30 transit. Bootcamp at the shared PARIVISION-Spirit Moscow facility closed May 31.
- NAVI, The MongolZ, FURIA, Vitality, MOUZ, Spirit: all in city, all checked into team hotels (covered May 30 roundup).
Stage 1 (Challengers) — 16 teams across June 1
The 16 Stage 1 sides arrive on June 1 across multiple flights, with ESL's per-team Cologne Bonn Airport pickup running the full day. Earliest arrivals: ECSTATIC (Copenhagen, 08:50 CEST), Imperial (São Paulo via Frankfurt, 09:15 CEST), BetBoom (Moscow via Belgrade, 09:30 CEST). Latest arrivals: FlyQuest (Los Angeles via Frankfurt, 19:20 CEST), 3DMAX (Paris by team coach, 20:00 CEST), Chinggis Warriors (Ulaanbaatar via Istanbul and Frankfurt, 21:40 CEST).
Media day and opening ceremony
The ESL pre-Major media day at the ESL Cologne studio block runs June 1 from 14:00-20:00 CEST. The Stage 1 opening ceremony at the studio runs June 2 at 09:30 CEST, thirty minutes before the paiN vs FlyQuest opener at 10:00. No major-event opening ceremony at the LANXESS arena — that arena's opening ceremony runs June 17 ahead of the Stage 3 quarterfinals.
