Day five of the Esports World Cup 2026 is done, with two more matches leading to two teams qualifying for the playoffs while the other two go home empty-handed.

Here is how the matches concluded on day five:

Group A

The deciding match for Group A was a rematch between BBL Esports and EDward Gaming, with the Chinese squad looking for revenge after losing to the Turkish squad earlier this tournament.

Beginning on Lotus, BBL Esports won the first pistol and bonus round, and pulled that into a significant early lead. EDG struggled on the attack, still running signed in place of Smoggy , and it showed as BBL jumped to a 12-0 half.

Crewen looked comfortable on Cypher, and even as EDG took the second pistol and bonus round, BBL earned the one round win the team needed to take map one 13-4.

EDG needed map two, Breeze, to be a bounce-back if the team wanted to stay in the tournament, but another strong start from BBL developed another huge first-half lead. Lar0k , who was great on map one, showed off on map two to pull BBL to an 8-4 lead at the half.

Crewen and BBL win Breeze against EDG in the rematch.

This time around, BBL earned the second pistol and bonus round win, meaning that every team converted their respective bonus round this series. EDG only managed to win one round before the map and series were done, as BBL defeated EDG 13-5 on Breeze and took the series 2-0.

BBL now officially qualify for the playoff stage of the EWC, eliminating EDG.

Group B

The deciding match of Group B was between NRG and Karmine Corp, two teams with huge fanbases and hopes for another trophy.

Map one was Breeze, with both teams running slightly different Harbor comps. NRG started hot with a pistol win, and despite a bonus round loss, looked the stronger team on gun rounds. One player in particular stood out, and that was skuba on Viper shutting down the attack from KC. Up 9-3 at the half, the defense side from KC needed to be great for the map to reach OT.

After NRG took the second pistol and reached an 11-3 lead, the map eventually ended 13-6 as Avez ulted N4RRATE , which cost the team in a clutch later, placing KC down in the series.

Fracture was next, with both teams once again running similar double-Duelist comps, but with a slight change in the choice of Duelists. The Waylay from mada allowed for some cool utility combinations, but the Raze from LewN had a ton of pure damage output. NRG took the lead with a pistol win, but KC earned it right back after stopping the bonus conversion.

An Operator investment was fumbled for NRG, as KC continued to extend the defense-side lead. Both timeouts were used to try and pull back the half, but KC remained calm and collected to enter the half up 9-3.

NRG won the second pistol, but a costly antieco led to KC reaching a 10-5 lead. NRG nearly took a round with a thrifty, but KC managed to keep the cart on the tracks.

KC stops an NRG thrifty on Fracture.

A couple of chaotic rounds afterward led to a KC timeout, but there was no comeback from NRG as KC converted Fracture 13-7 to take the series to Haven.

Haven began with keiko on Chamber and Ethan on Neon, two interesting picks that threw KC for a loop. NRG jumped ahead to start, and brawk bought his signature Odin to start shredding KC to pieces. The half ended 10-2, placing KC in a big hole to dig out of.

KC earned its first pistol win of the series when the team needed it most, and despite a bonus round loss, offered hope with a gun round win. Yet, a great Ethan round took NRG to map point, which the team secured after. Haven ended 13-7, and NRG won the series 2-1, qualifying to the EWC playoffs.

Up next

All that's left in the EWC 2026 group stages are the deciding matches for groups C and D, which are both happening tomorrow.