Tournament · CS2
Intel Extreme Masters is ESL's series of Counter-Strike 2 events. Five IEM events are on the 2026 calendar: Kraków, Rio, Atlanta and the IEM Cologne Major have been played, and IEM Beijing runs from 2 to 8 November at Wukesong Arena with a $1,000,000 prize pool.
Team Vitality won Kraków and Rio, Natus Vincere won Atlanta and Team Falcons won the Cologne Major. Below: the 2026 results, how outright odds work in an IEM playoff and every winner of the series' flagship event in Katowice and Kraków.
Wikipedia: Intel Extreme Masters, IEM seasons (event, dates, champion, runner-up, prize pool).
Short answer
Every IEM match has a series winner market, and CS2 books add map winner, map handicap, total maps, total rounds and pistol-round markets. Outright markets cover the event winner. Team Vitality won five of the nine IEM events in 2025 and 2026, so expect short prices on them and look for value in series where the map pool favours the opponent.
2026 calendar
Four different finals, three different winners. Vitality won the first two events of 2026; NaVi and Falcons took the next two.
| Event | Dates | Champion | Runner-up | Prize pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IEM Kraków | 27 Jan–8 Feb | Team Vitality | FURIA | $1,250,000 |
| IEM Rio | 14–19 Apr | Team Vitality | Team Spirit | $1,000,000 |
| IEM Atlanta | 11–15 May | Natus Vincere | GamerLegion | $1,000,000 |
| IEM Cologne Major | 2–21 Jun | Team Falcons | FURIA | $1,250,000 |
| IEM Beijing | 2–8 Nov | To be played | $1,000,000 |
Wikipedia: Intel Extreme Masters, IEM seasons (event, dates, champion, runner-up, prize pool).
Outright vs match
Pick the winner of the event before or during it. With one favourite winning so often, outright prices on the rest of the field are where the value usually hides.
So what: bigger payout but a bigger margin, and your stake is locked until the trophy is lifted.
Pick the winner of one series. CS2 series are best-of-three in most rounds, and the map veto decides which maps are played.
So what: the lowest margin on most books, and you can react to form, patches and roster news.
Total rounds on a map, pistol-round winner, first to 5 or 10 rounds, and player kills where offered.
So what: thin markets with wide margins; compare two or three books before you bet.
Odds through the bracket Example odds
A worked example: a team with a 60% chance in every series and an example outright overround of 25%. IEM playoffs are single elimination from the quarter-finals.
Quarter-final
Semi-final
Grand final
Champion
Title chance = chance per series to the power of the series still to win. With 3 series left the chance is 21.6%, fair odds 4.63. Each series win removes one factor.
What it means: a price of 3.70 before the playoffs only pays if the team wins every series, so compare it with backing the team series by series.
Worked example, not a forecast. Book odds = fair odds ÷ (1 + overround).
Example odds Example odds
Example odds, not live prices. The sum of the implied probabilities shows the bookmaker's margin.
| Team | Example odds | Implied | Fair odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team Vitality | 3.25 | 30.8% | 3.78 |
| Team Falcons | 6.00 | 16.7% | 6.99 |
| Team Spirit | 6.50 | 15.4% | 7.57 |
| Natus Vincere | 8.00 | 12.5% | 9.31 |
| MOUZ | 9.00 | 11.1% | 10.48 |
| FURIA | 10.00 | 10.0% | 11.64 |
| Any other team | 5.00 | 20.0% | 5.82 |
| Sum | 116.4% | margin 14.1% |
Add up 1 ÷ odds for every runner. Here the sum is 116.4%, so the book keeps about 14.1% of outright stakes on average.
What it means: outrights suit a strong view on one team. The names show how the table works; they are not predictions. The table does not mean these teams are in the IEM Beijing field.
Example odds set by esportranker. Not live, not a forecast.
Past winners
Fnatic, Astralis and Vitality have won the flagship event more than once. Fnatic won three times (2015, 2016, 2018), Astralis and Vitality twice each. The 2026 edition moved to Kraków.
| Year | City | Champion | Runner-up | Final | Prize pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Kraków | Team Vitality | FURIA | $1.25M | |
| 2025 | Katowice | Team Vitality | Team Spirit | $1.25M | |
| 2024 | Katowice | Team Spirit | FaZe Clan | $1.00M | |
| 2023 | Katowice | G2 Esports | Heroic | $1.00M | |
| 2022 | Katowice | FaZe Clan | G2 Esports | $1.00M | |
| 2021 | Gambit Esports | Virtus.pro | $1.00M | ||
| 2020 | Katowice | Natus Vincere | G2 Esports | $500K | |
| 2019 | Katowice | Astralis | ENCE | $1.00M | |
| 2018 | Katowice | Fnatic | FaZe Clan | ||
| 2017 | Katowice | Astralis | FaZe Clan | ||
| 2016 | Katowice | Fnatic | Luminosity Gaming | ||
| 2015 | Katowice | Fnatic | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
Wikipedia: Intel Extreme Masters, IEM seasons (event, dates, champion, runner-up, prize pool). Prize pools before 2019 are not listed in the source.
IEM Beijing runs from 2 to 8 November 2026 at Wukesong Arena, with a $1,000,000 prize pool.
Team Falcons won the IEM Cologne Major 2026 (2–21 June), with FURIA as runner-up. It had a $1,250,000 prize pool.
Team Vitality: in 2025 they won Katowice, Melbourne and Dallas, and in 2026 Kraków and Rio, five of the nine IEM events played across the two years.
Both are run by ESL. IEM is a series of standalone events in big arenas; the ESL Pro League is a league-style event held twice a year. See our ESL betting page.
Series winner, map winner, map and round handicaps, total maps, total rounds and pistol rounds are common. Outright markets cover the event winner. Our CS2 betting page explains each market.
Short odds only pay off if the true chance is higher than the price implies. A team at 1.25 needs to win more than 80% of the time; one bad map veto can undo that, so check the map pool before you bet.
Responsible gambling
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Our responsible gaming policyDecide what a month of betting may cost before you deposit, and use the deposit limits your bookmaker offers. Outright bets lock money up for weeks, so count them in that budget.
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