ESL One Birmingham 2026 - Tundra Esports and MOUZ enjoy perfect starts to the Group Stage

Tundra Esports and MOUZ lead a stratified Group A early on while competition in Group B is looking much closer.

ESL One Birmingham 2026, the first major Dota 2 LAN tournament of the year, has begun. From 22 to 29 March, 16 of the best teams in the world will clash in Birmingham for the right to claim the lion's share of the tournament's US$1 million prize pool and secure ESL Pro Tour (EPT) points that will go towards qualification to the Esports World Cup 2026's Dota 2 competition.

ESL One Birmingham 2026 will begin with a four-day Group Stage from 22 to 25 March, splitting the 16 teams into two round-robin groups of eight teams each and where all matches are a best-of-two series. Four teams will advance to the Playoffs from each group, with the Top 2 advancing to the upper bracket while the third and fourth-placed teams will have to start in the lower bracket.

Western European powerhouses Tundra Esports and MOUZ dominated Group A to kick off the ESL One Birmingham 2026 Group Stage, as they were the only teams to finish Day 1 with a perfect 4-0 record. Meanwhile, Eastern Europe's Aurora Gaming and Team Spirit hold the lead in a tightly-contested Group B.

Read on as we break down all of the action in Day 1 of ESL One Birmingham 2026:

Which teams are leading after Day 1 of the ESL One Birmingham 2026 Group Stage?

Western European powerhouses Tundra and MOUZ topped the standings in Group A with clean 4-0 records apiece after the opening day of the Group Stage. Tundra scored two huge wins over Eastern European contenders PARIVISION and BetBoom Team while MOUZ dealt with easier opponents in North America's GamerLegion and Southeast Asia's REKONIX.

After Tundra and MOUZ, Team Yandex sit squarely in third place in Group A with a 3-1 record after sweeping China's Yakult Brothers and drawing with PARIVISION. Meanwhile, the rest of Group A all finished Day 1 with 1-3 records, which could lead to a tight race for the fourth and final Playoff spot in the group in the coming days.

While Group A is looking stratified early on, the competition over in Group B seems to be much closer. Aurora and Spirit occupy the Top 2 spots with 3-1 records apiece, having swept Team Falcons and paiN Gaming in their respective opening matches before holding each other to a draw in their second match of the day.

Four Group B teams then ended Day 1 with a 2-2 record: Xtreme Gaming, Nigma Galaxy, OG, and Virtus.pro. Meanwhile, Falcons and paiN sit at the bottom of the group with 1-3 records. With only four Playoff spots allotted to each group, and with Aurora and Spirit holding comfortable leads, the coming days seem set to host a monumental struggle for the two lower bracket berths in Group B.

Here are the full results for Day 1 of the ESL One Birmingham 2026 Group Stage:

Group A

Tundra Esports 2-0 PARIVISION
MOUZ 2-0 GamerLegion
Team Yandex 2-0 Yakult Brothers
BetBoom Team 1-1 REKONIX
Tundra Esports 2-0 BetBoom Team
Team Yandex 1-1 PARIVISION
GamerLegion 1-1 Yakult Brothers
MOUZ 2-0 REKONIX

Group B

Aurora Gaming 2-0 Team Falcons
OG 1-1 Nigma Galaxy
Xtreme Gaming 1-1 Virtus.pro
Team Spirit 2-0 paiN Gaming
Xtreme Gaming 1-1 Team Falcons
Aurora Gaming 1-1 Team Spirit
Nigma Galaxy 1-1 Virtus.pro
OG 1-1 paiN Gaming

Here are the standings after Day 1 of the ESL One Birmingham 2026 Group Stage:

Group A

MOUZ: 4-0 (2-0-0)
Tundra Esports: 4-0 (2-0-0)
Team Yandex: 3-1 (1-1-0)
BetBoom Team: 1-3 (0-1-1)
GamerLegion: 1-3 (0-1-1)
PARIVISION: 1-3 (0-1-1)
REKONIX: 1-3 (0-1-1)Y
Yakult Brothers: 1-3 (0-1-1)

Group B

Aurora Gaming: 3-1 (1-1-0)
Team Spirit: 3-1 (1-1-0)
Xtreme Gaming: 2-2 (0-2-0)
Nigma Galaxy: 2-2 (0-2-0)
OG: 2-2 (0-2-0)
Virtus.pro: 2-2 (0-2-0)
Team Falcons: 1-3 (0-1-1)
paiN Gaming: 1-3 (0-1-1)

What you need to know about ESL One Birmingham 2026

ESL One Birmingham 2026 is the latest event in the 2025-2026 ESL Pro Tour (EPT) and is the fourth ESL One tournament to be hosted in Birmingham, the United Kingdom after the previous edition in 2024. ESL One Birmingham 2026 features 16 of the best teams in the world competing for their cut of the tournament's US$1 million prize pool and EPT points that will go towards qualification for the Esports World Cup 2026's Dota 2 competition.

ESL One Birmingham will take place from 22 to 29 March, split between the Group Stage from 22 to 25 March and the Playoffs from 26 to 29 March. The Group Stage splits the 16 participating teams into two round-robin groups of eight teams each, where they will compete in best-of-two matches to be among the eight total teams advancing to the Playoffs. The Playoffs follow a double-elimination format with best-of-three matches except for the grand finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.