Team Spirit are the first-ever three-time The International Dota 2 world champions.
Eastern European Dota 2 titans 
Team Spirit have become the game's first-ever three-time world champions after they outlasted regional rivals 
TEAM VISION (aka PARIVISION), 3-2, in the thrilling best-of-five grand finals of The International (TI) 2026 at Shanghai's Oriental Sports Center on Sunday (23 August).
Spirit carry player 
Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk and offlaner 
Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov are now the first Dota 2 players to become three-time TI champions, having won the title together in TI 2021 and TI 2023. Coach Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov is now also a three-time champion, winning his first title as a coach after claiming his first two as a player alongside Yatoro and Collapse.
Spirit mid laner Denis “Larl” Sigitov also becomes the 13th player to win TI twice, having won his first with Spirit in 2023. The team's support duo of Alexey “not me” Kosmynin and Aleksandr “rue” Filin claim their first Aegis of Champions, with not me notably winning the title in his TI debut.
In addition to their historic third world championship, Spirit also claimed the grand prize of US$1.4 million out of TI 2026's US$3.33 million prize pool.
Meanwhile, VISION settle for second place after entering TI 2026 as by far the biggest favourites to claim the championship. While they improve on their third place finish from last year's tournament, they fall short of the Aegis of Champions this year. VISION coach 
Clement “Puppey” Ivanov also sees the trophy elude him again after he won the first-ever TI in 2011 then finished second in the tournament's 2012, 2013, and 2022 editions.
TEAM VISION and Team Spirit's paths to The International 2026 grand finals
Ahead of TI 2026, VISION were seen as by far the biggest favourites to claim this year's Aegis of Champions while Spirit were only seen as a solid contender. The two grand finalists clashed twice in the earlier stages of TI 2026 before facing off for a third and final time in the championship round.
VISION were quick to cement their spot as title favourites by going undefeated in the Group Stage and advancing directly to the Playoffs.
They kicked off their Group Stage campaign by defeating China's 
Team Resilience in three games in Round 1, then followed it up with another three-game victory against defending champions 
Team Falcons in Round 2. In Round 3, VISION put themselves in position for a direct berth to the Playoffs by soundly sweeping 
BoomBoys (aka BetBoom Team). And in their first meeting with Spirit in Round 4 of the Group Stage, VISION swept the series to secure their spot in the main event.
While VISION cruised to through the Group Stage, Spirit had to overcome significant challenges to secure their spot in the Playoffs.
They started the Group Stage strong by winning all of their matches in the first three rounds. Spirit first swept China's 
Xtreme Gaming in Round 1 before scoring another sweep over regional rivals 
Aurora Gaming in Round 2. Round 3 then saw Spirit defeat 
Team Liquid in three games to get in position to secure a direct berth to the Playoffs in the final day of the Group Stage.
Spirit got their first shot at qualifying directly to the Playoffs in a showdown with VISION in Round 4, only to get swept. They still had a second chance at skipping the Elimination Stage, needing to defeat 
Nigma Galaxy in the final round of the Group Stage to do so. But a surging Nigma Galaxy instead pulled off a huge 2-0 upset over Spirit, forcing the two-time TI champions to play through the Elimination Stage.
Spirit didn't waste their third shot at making the Playoffs in the Elimination Stage, as they defeated Resilience in three games to finally advance to the main event.
The opening day of the Playoffs then saw both VISION and Spirit win their respective matches in the upper bracket quarterfinals, with VISION taking down BoomBoys in three games while Spirit soundly swept 
Iron Wing (aka 1w Team). That then set up VISION and Spirit's second showdown of the tournament, with a spot in the upper bracket finals at stake.
While the series went to three games this time around, VISION still emerged victorious over Spirit to knock them down to the lower bracket and advance to the upper bracket finals. There, VISION defeated 
Team Yandex to become the first team to advance to the grand finals.
Meanwhile, Spirit would go on a rampage through the lower bracket to earn a final rematch with VISION in the grand finals. In the penultimate day of the tournament, Spirit swept Liquid in the lower bracket quarterfinals then cruised through BoomBoys in the lower bracket semifinals. And to kick off the final day of TI 2026, Spirit routed Yandex in the lower bracket finals to advance to the grand finals and face VISION once more for the championship.
Spirit came out swinging to start the grand finals and dominated game one. They looked to be in position to take a commanding 2-0 series lead in game two, but VISION were able to turn the tables and instead tie up the series at 1-1. The pivotal third game of the grand finals was a close affair, but Spirit emerged victorious to get within championship point.
With their backs against the wall in game four, VISION routed Spirit to force the grand finals to a deciding fifth game. And with everything on the line in the decider, Spirit overcame an early lead from VISION and secured their third Aegis of Champions after a 64-minute thriller.
What was The International 2026?
TI 2026 was this year's iteration of Dota 2's annual world championship tournament, and took place in August in Shanghai, China. As with previous iterations of the tournament, TI 2026 featured a total of 16 teams that earned their spots in the tournament by receiving direct invites or earning slots through regional qualifiers.
The list of directly-invited teams to TI 2026 included Aurora Gaming, BoomBoys (aka BetBoom Team), Team Falcons, Team Liquid, Iron Wing (aka 1w Team), Xtreme Gaming, and Team Yandex. Meanwhile, the teams that earned their spots through the regional qualifiers included European qualifier winners Team Spirit, TEAM VISION (aka PARIVISION), 
HULIGANI, and Nigma Galaxy, North American qualifier winner 
GamerLegion, Southeast Asian qualifier winner 
OG, South American qualifier winner 
LGD Gaming, as well as Chinese qualifier winners 
Vici Gaming and Team Resilience.
TI 2026's main event was hosted in the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai. Valve first announced that Shanghai will host TI 2026 during last year's world championship tournament, where Team Falcons claimed the Aegis of Champions after defeating China's Xtreme Gaming in the five-game grand finals.
This marked the second time that Shanghai hosted TI after TI 2019, where Western Europe's OG became the first-ever two-time TI champions after defeating Team Liquid in four games to claim the grand prize of US$15.6 million, out of the US$34.3 million prize pool.
TI 2026 was split into two phases: the ‘Road to The International’ and ‘The International’ main event. The Road to The International was a Swiss-style Group Stage from 13 to 16 August, where the 16 teams were cut down to the final eight that played in the game's biggest stage from 20 to 23 August in Shanghai's Oriental Sports Center.
TI 2026's prize pool followed that of previous editions, with a US$1.6 million base prize pool that was then boosted through sales of the TI 2026 Compendium.
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