Team Falcons take down Spacestation Gaming to win the Rocket League EWC 2026

Having missed out on the Paris Major entirely three months ago, Team Falcons have battled back to win the Esports World Cup 2026, sweeping aside the young-guns of Spacestation Gaming 4-0 to secure the Rocket League Esports title. While the North American third seed shocked the scene with a strong run through the competition that included wins over Karmine Corp, Shopify Rebellion, and Ninjas in Pyjamas, they proved no match for an experienced Team Falcons squad who are no strangers to a LAN final. Samy "dralii" Hajji, who joined the MENA giants as a replacement for Mohammed Khalid "trk511" Alotaibi ahead of RLCS 2026, wins his third EWC title alongside the twins Yazeed Abdullah "Kiileerrz" Bakhashwin and Saleh Abdullah "Rw9" Bakhashwin, having previously won with Karmine Corp in 2025 and Team BDS in 2024. The Moroccan becomes the first player in any game to win the competition three times in a row, even doing so on three different teams.

Team Falcons came into the event as MENA’s second seed, having just come off failing to reach an RLCS Major for the first time since the organization acquired the Sandrock Gaming core of Khalid "oKhaliD" Qasim, Ahmad Abdullah "Ahmad" Al-Rubaish, and trk511 all the way back in RLCS 2021-22. The team opened their account with a 3-1 revenge victory over domestic rivals R8 Esports, who had beaten Team Falcons twice over the course of RLCS 2026 Split 2. They then secured their place in the playoffs with a narrow 3-2 victory over Boston Major winners Gentle Mates.

With momentum starting to build, Team Falcons then faced their main regional adversary Twisted Minds in the quarter-finals. Under the leadership of Evan "M0nkey M00n" Rogez, Twisted Minds came into the event as MENA’s first seed but were ultimately overpowered by Team Falcons in a 2-4 series. Having done away with their domestic demons, Team Falcons followed with a truly convincing 4-0 win over reigning EWC champions Karmine Corp in the semi-final before carrying that momentum on to sweep fellow finalists Spacestation Gaming to lift the EWC trophy.

Despite their loss against Team Falcons, Spacestation Gaming were easily one of the highlights of the tournament. The young roster featuring Jack "reveal" LeDuc, Zachary "zach" Stone, and Brazilian star João "diaz" Henrique were coming off a top-eight finish at the Paris Major. While the expectations for the team weren’t in the stratosphere, the North American third seed had the potential to upset, which is precisely what they did. They were the only squad from the region to win their opening match, beating MIBR.LOS 3-2 before shocking the scene by sweeping the Paris Major champions, Karmine Corp, 3-0 to reach the playoffs.

With only limited experience in LAN playoffs, many fans expected their run to come to a close, but they managed to overcome domestic rivals Shopify Rebellion in dramatic 4-3 fashion. It was the first time Spacestation Gaming had reached top-four at a LAN (outside of the 2026 Kick-off weekend) since Slater "Retals" Thomas’s squad did so at the 2021-22 Winter Major over four years ago. They would go one more by reaching the grand finals with a 4-3 win over European upstarts NiP.eStar, the first time a North America lineup had reached the finals of a LAN event this season. While they ultimately failed to secure the EWC title, Spacestation Gaming exited the event with their heads held high even in spite of a 0-4 loss to the winners, Team Falcons.

Immediate favourites for the event, Karmine Corp, had not only come into the tournament as the most recent Major winners but were also the reigning EWC champions. Yet, right from the beginning, the French titans were not at their best. A relatively easy 3-0 victory against Australian roster Wildcard was followed up by a shock 0-3 loss to Spacestation Gaming, forcing Karmine Corp down to a lower bracket match against R8 Esports. Axel "Vatira" Touret’s crew struggled past the MENA third seed in a close seven-game series to reach the playoffs. Here they faced Team Vitality, an organization they had a 20-2 series record against since the end of RLCS 2022-23. Despite outsourcing their opponents by 14 goals, they only mustered a 4-3 victory against Team Vitality to face Team Falcons in the semi-finals. Here, their form finally caught up with them, losing to the MENA challengers in an 0-4 sweep. Now downcast, Karmine Corp lost the following third-place decider to NiP.eStar in a timid 0-3 series, bowing out of the event in a relatively disappointing fourth-place finish. Still seeking their first World Championship title, Karmine Corp now have a month to recover for the closing event of RLCS 2026, set to begin on September 15 in Fort Worth.