Bigodes top the SAM LCQ to qualify for the 2026 RLCS World Championship

Bigodes claimed the second Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) title of the weekend to qualify for the 2026 Rocket League World Championship after taking down heavy favorites BS+COMPETITION on Champions Field in the grand finals of the South America LCQ. LAN veterans Bernardo "Bemmz" Siqueira Marta and Olímpio "nxghtt" (with coach Vinicius "Kaoshi" Sousa) Torres picked up Arthur "DRUFINHO" Langsch Miguel to replace Leonardo Alves "LeoDkn" de Jesus ahead of the event, and entered as part of the second-tier of competitors behind BS+, who won Open 6 heading into the LCQ. Bigodes’ decorated roster will compete as SAM’s third seed (behind MIBR and FURIA Esports) and will compete in the Play-In, with their first matchup against North American #4 seed Virtus.pro.

Bemmz and nxghtt joined forces at the beginning of Split 2 following a disappointing first split from the former’s Chromax and a brief break from competition for the latter. Together with LeoDkn and Kaoshi, the duo supplanted DRUFINHO’s Team Secret as South America’s fourth-best team, ending the season with back-to-back 3rd-4th place finishes.

DRUFINHO entered RLCS 2026 as Pedro Henrique "swiftt." Lewy Gomes’s replacement on Team Secret in a swap deal with FURIA after serving a two-year stint with the organization. Secret saw themselves surpassed by MIBR in Split 1 despite a 2nd place finish in Open 2, failing to qualify for the Boston Major. After swapping longtime Secret captain Danilo "kv1" Michelini for up-and-comer Maurício "suco" Dalavia, the roster stagnated in Open 4 before losing a shock series to Bigodes in Open 5 and bottoming out with a Friday exit in Open 6. Secret dropped the roster prior to the final event of the season.

The Secret roster (by then playing under BANANA) disbanded fully prior to the LCQ; DRUFINHO joined forces with the Bigodes duo in hopes of toppling a BS+ roster on the rise after acquiring kv1.

While Bigodes weren’t the top favorite heading into the SAM LCQ, their talent and the diminished depth of the event meant that they were in a strong position to contend for the title from the moment the bracket began. They started their run with a 3-0 performance in the Swiss Stage and back-to-back 3-1 victories over 25 Shot Club (Gold3n, Maathzudo, nahuz) and twitter (caard, Delivery, snipjz.) in the GSL Stage to comfortably progress through to the upper bracket.

That upper bracket match — against favorites BS+ — would prove far too tall of a task for the trio, as they suffered an 0-4 defeat with a cumulative goal differential of 2-11 (including three shutout games).

Dropped to the lower bracket, Bigodes would have two weeks to prepare for their next opponent, Disasterclass (brad/droppz/Leodkn), featuring two victors of the 2025 SAM LCQ and a player DRUFINHO replaced to find his spot onto the roster. Bigodes brushed aside Disasterclass 4-0 before clawing their way back from 2-3 down against Novadrift (Kevinacho/KnS/Rmn) in the semifinals to book their spot in the championship match — which would turn out to be a rematch against BS+.

Unlike R8 Esports’ clean sweep in MENA the day prior, the SAM LCQ grand finals was a bruising affair, with both heavyweight rosters trading blows in a series that saw two overtimes and six one-goal games. Ultimately, despite losing a 3-1 series lead, Bigodes was able to secure a 2-0 victory in Game 7, securing their spot in Fort Worth with an eight-goal performance by nxghtt and an eight-assist performance by Bemmz.

In their game seven victory, Bemmz and nxghtt each snapped three-season long LAN droughts dating back to the RLCS 2022-23 World Championship in Düsseldorf; DRUFINHO will make his first return to the LAN stage since leaving his role as a part of the legendary FURIA roster that dominated South America in 2024 and 2025. Kaoshi will make his first LAN as coach since the beginning of his career in 2023.

Bigodes’ win also denied career-first LAN appearances for Cauã "crn" Cerione and Celso "wisty" Souza; kv1 will still travel to the World Championship to compete in the 1v1 event as South America’s representative in the gamemode.

The Bigodes roster will be underdogs to Virtus.pro in their first Play-In match, and though a date with Five Fears likely awaits them in the lower bracket, their path to the Group Stage almost certainly requires them to beat one of Team Falcons, R8 Esports, and FUT Esports to advance. Still, as their veteran status and win over BS+COMPETITION demonstrates, they hold strong upset potential against any team that dares to underestimate them.