Single-elimination, best-of-three, eight teams. June 17–21, 2026 at the LANXESS Arena. The bracket below fills in after the Elimination Stage closes on June 16.
Eight teams advance from the Elimination Stage with a 3-1 or 3-0 record. Seeding is by Buchholz (cumulative opponent record) — the strongest 3-0 sits at the top of the bracket and faces the lowest-seeded 3-1 in the quarter-finals. Pairings are set immediately after the final Elimination Stage match.
Quarter-finals are spread across two days (Wednesday + Thursday) with two matches each. Semi-finals occupy Friday and Saturday with one match per day, building toward the Sunday Grand Final. Each Bo3 typically lasts 2–4 hours; the Bo5 Grand Final can run 5+ hours and is the only Sunday match — doors open early afternoon Cologne time.
The official ESL ticket store sells per-day passes and a full-weekend bundle. The Sunday Grand Final is consistently the fastest to sell out; the two semi-final days follow. Quarter-final days remain available longest. For seating tiers, transport, and venue logistics see our Cologne travel guide; for ticket purchase go to the official ESL store.
All eight playoff matches are best-of-three except the Grand Final, which is best-of-five. There are no Bo1 matches anywhere in Stage 3 — a format change for this Major covered in our no-Bo1 news entry. For the full Swiss-stage format and seeding rules see the format explainer.