ESL One Birmingham 2026 battle reignites with Tundra and MOUZ leading the pack.

As the first major offline Dota 2 tournament of the year, the highly anticipated ESL One Birmingham 2026 officially kicked off on March 22.

This tournament brings together 16 of the world's top esports teams in Birmingham, UK, not only to compete for a total prize pool of $1 million, but also to vie for crucial ESL Pro Tour (EPT) points, paving the way for qualification for the 2026 Esports World Cup.

The tournament was held from March 22nd to 29th, and consisted of two stages: the group stage and the knockout stage.

Group Stage (March 22-25): The 16 teams are divided into two groups, A and B, and play a best-of-two round-robin tournament. The top four teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage, with the top two teams directly advancing to the winners' bracket and the third and fourth-placed teams falling into the losers' bracket.

• Knockout Stage (March 26-29): Double-elimination format. Except for the final, which is a best-of-five series, all other matches are best-of-three series.

After a fierce first day of competition, the leaders in each group have begun to emerge, and the two groups present distinctly different competitive situations. In Group A, the two Western European powerhouses have demonstrated absolute dominance. Tundra Esports and MOUZ both swept their opponents with perfect 4-0 records, firmly tying for first place in the group.

In contrast, the competition in Group B is particularly close. Currently, Eastern European teams Aurora Gaming and Team Spirit are tied for the lead with a 3-1 record.

Both teams secured two points in their respective opening matches, leading to a draw in their head-to-head encounter. With the mid-table teams in Group B neck and neck on points, the battle for qualification is set to be exceptionally fierce.

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