Artem "Fng" Barshak and Yaroslav "NS" Kuznetsov discussed the closed European qualifiers for The International 2026 on a stream. According to Fng, the current qualifiers are significantly more interesting than many past cycles.
There’s a vibe because there are many mid-tier teams, and there are enough slots for them too. You have MOUZ, NAVI, Nigma, VP, PR, the same "League".
Fng noted that the level of teams in the region has increased:
There are enough teams. I was sitting and watching, while there was nothing to do, that they are playing other tournaments, and they are all really playing well. It’s just still unclear what Nigma represents; NAVI — we saw that it clearly didn’t go well for them in the EWC qualifiers.
The closed European qualifiers for The International 2026 take place from June 21 to June 28 in an online format. Sixteen teams are competing for four slots in the main tournament of the season. This year, Valve combined Western and Eastern Europe into one qualifying tournament.
