The upper bracket of VCT EMEA 2026 Stage 2 Play-Ins has concluded, with Enterprise Esports Enterprise Esports Europe Rank #1 MAGNUM Martin Penkov iluri Ilari Puranen Lime Jacob Foster paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kozzy Denis Stefan Aionitoaei and FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #8 s0pp Efe Tur xeus Doğan Gözgen yetujey Eray Budak KROSTALY Okan Alaçam sociablEE Volkan Yonal qualifying for the playoffs.

Starting August 20, the squads will meet a collection of the best teams in EMEA. For now, here's a quick recap of how these two teams made it through the upper bracket of the play-ins:

Enterprise Esports Enterprise Esports Europe Rank #1 MAGNUM Martin Penkov iluri Ilari Puranen Lime Jacob Foster paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kozzy Denis Stefan Aionitoaei

Of the four Challengers teams that qualified for the play-ins, Enterprise Esports proved the most dominant, completing an undefeated upper-bracket run in Challengers EMEA Stage 3.

The Czech organization faltered in its first map of the tournament, as an underachieving FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #16 crashies Austin Roberts kaajak Kajetan Haremski Cloud Kirill Nehozhin Alfajer Emir Ali Beder roster blew them out 13-3. However, Enterprise Esports struck back, bringing its Challengers dominance to the play-ins, defeating FNATIC 2-1 in close 13-10 and 13-11 victories to move on.

ep Enterprise Esports celebrates their win (Photo: Riot Games)

Enterprise's only map loss in the upper bracket came against FNATIC. The squad then handled Gentle Mates Gentle Mates Europe Rank #12 Proxh Yusuf Emre Tunc starxo Patryk Kopczynski marteen Martin Pátek H1ber Joona Parviainen Minny Patrik Hušek with ease, defeating the French organization 2-0 in 13-9 and 13-6 victories. Challengers rivals Fire Flux Esports Fire Flux Esports Europe Rank #3 batujnax Mehmet Batu Özaslan hezacoil Berkay Doğar Kachoww Samet Arıcı DeadInk Utku Onur Aydin reazy Kaan Ürpek pushed Enterprise much closer in the qualifying match. Enterprise scraped by in overtime of the first map 15-13, but handled business in the second map of the series 13-10, solidifying its place against EMEA's best in the playoffs.

Experienced tier-one veterans Martin "MAGNUM" Penkov and Patryk "paTiTek" Fabrowski lead the squad, but 16-year-old Duelist Denis "kozzy" Stefan Aionitoaei stood out, leading Enterprise with 130 kills across seven play-ins maps.

Enterprise Esports becomes the first Challengers team in EMEA to qualify for the playoffs, and will either clash against Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #5 nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin GSR Ognjen Bondžić kamo Kamil Frąckowiak trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Kicks Kimmie Laasner or Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #4 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen PROFEK Dawid Święć Derke Nikita Niko Sirmitev Chronicle Timofey Khromov Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu come August 20.

FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #8 s0pp Efe Tur xeus Doğan Gözgen yetujey Eray Budak KROSTALY Okan Alaçam sociablEE Volkan Yonal

FUT Esports narrowly missed playoff qualification out of the EMEA Stage 2 group stage. The Turkish roster then cleared its side of the play-ins upper bracket without losing a map.

A bye sent FUT straight to the upper quarterfinals, where it dispatched GIANTX GIANTX Europe Rank #33 westside Miłosz Duda Flickless Karel Maeckelbergh ara Hanceriuc Eduard-George neT Michael Bernet 2-0. That win set up a Turkish clásico against EMEA rivals Eternal Fire Eternal Fire Europe Rank #18 Spear Arda Burak Kartal audaz Soner Ekiz Favian Enes Yiğiter echo Ömür Serkan Şenol nekky Anıl Dağdeviren , with a playoff spot on the line.

The two squads went the distance in the first map of Lotus, where FUT edged out a 15-13 overtime win. Eternal Fire found no answer for the aim of Efe "s0pp" Tur and Doğan "xeus" Gözgen on Ascent, and FUT closed the series 13-9.

fut FUT Esports celebrates their win (Photo: Riot Games)

Across both series, the double-Duelist pairing combined for 177 kills, with xeus posting a 1.31 rating while s0pp followed closely behind with a 1.30 rating.

FUT Esports will meet Team Liquid or Team Vitality in the playoffs with a Champions berth on the line.