Counter-Strike 2’s EWC 2026 Semifinals Will Decide the Finalists on August 22

Counter-Strike 2’s EWC 2026 semifinal stage will begin on August 22 with FURIA facing FUT, followed by Legacy against Spirit. Both series are scheduled as best-of-three matches, with the opening matchup starting at 10:00 a.m. EDT and the second set for 12:55 p.m. EDT.

The two winners will advance to the Paris final on August 23. The doubleheader is the closing competitive stage after the event’s four-group opening format, which brought 32 teams into the $2 million tournament.

EWC 2026 semifinal schedule

The listed AEST times are 00:00 for the first semifinal and 02:55 for the second, so viewers in that region will see both matches after midnight.

Quarterfinal results set up the semifinals

FURIA enters the first series as the more heavily favored team, while Spirit carries similar billing in the second matchup. FUT and Legacy have reached the final four by surviving convincing quarterfinal tests, giving both favorites plenty of reason not to look past their opponents.

FUT beat MOUZ 2-0 in the quarterfinals. The series opened with a 16-13 FUT victory on Dust2 before the team closed it out with a 13-5 win on Ancient.

Legacy also swept its quarterfinal 2-0, defeating NAVI 13-9 on Inferno and 13-6 on Ancient. That result set up a meeting with Spirit, one of the tournament’s top favorites, in Paris.

Where to watch the semifinal matches

Several language broadcasts are available for the two series. English coverage will come through ESL’s main broadcast, EWC Plus EN, and the ESL stream archive.

• Russian: BB’s Russian broadcast or BB’s stream page.
• French: Croissant Strike’s broadcast or its live stream page.
• Ukrainian: Maincast’s broadcast or the Maincast live page.

For bracket updates, match results, and event details, the Liquipedia EWC 2026 page and HLTV’s tournament listing will provide ongoing coverage.

The semifinal matchups are now set to determine the final two teams in Paris. Share your thoughts on FURIA vs. FUT and Legacy vs. Spirit in the comments, and keep up with coverage through X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.

Counter-Strike 2

Developed by Valve

Counter-Strike 2 is a free-to-play multiplayer tactical first-person shooter developed and published by Valve. Released in September 2023, it is the fifth main entry in the Counter-Strike series and serves as a direct replacement for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Steam. Two teams, Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists, compete in objective-based rounds across modes such as bomb defusal and hostage rescue. Built on the Source 2 engine, the game introduced volumetric smoke physics, revised weapon handling, and a new sub-tick server architecture. It inherited all cosmetic items from its predecessor and features both a map-specific Competitive mode and a numerically ranked Premier mode.

• Genre Shooter, Tactical
• Platforms Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows)
• Perspective First person
• Modes Single player, Multiplayer
• Release September 27, 2023
• Publisher Valve
• Age Rating
• Time to Beat

  Main

  1h

  Main + Extras

  14h

  Completionist

  139.8h

Steam Explore Counter-Strike 2 Official Site