100 Thieves defeated the reigning world champions to claim their first S-Tier international tournament title.
American VALORANT powerhouse 
100 Thieves have claimed the championship of the VALORANT Esports World Cup 2026 after they completed an arduous run through the tournament with a 3-1 gentleman's sweep over regional rivals 
NRG in the grand finals, hosted at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France on Monday (13 July).
With their victory, 100 Thieves claimed the lion's share of US$600,000 out of the tournament's US$2 million prize pool. This also marks the organisation's first S-Tier international tournament win after six years of competing in the VALORANT scene.
Meanwhile, NRG bow out with a commendable second place finish and with US$340,000 in consolation. It's a disappointing result for the reigning VALORANT world champions, who have now failed to secure a title in their third straight international tournament since their victory in VALORANT Champions 2025 last October.
The Americas reign supreme in VALORANT Esports World Cup
Both 100 Thieves and NRG earned their spots in the VALORANT Esports World Cup through the tournament's Americas qualifier in May, where 100 Thieves finished in the shared Top 2 spot alongside 
MIBR.LOS while NRG finished third.
In the GSL format Group Stage, 100 Thieves finished as the top seed of Group A by sweeping 
Rex Regum Qeon in their Opening Match and defeating 
BBL Esports in three games in the group's Winners Match.
Meanwhile, NRG finished as the second seed of Group B. They defeated 
Paper Rex, 2-1, in their Opening Match but lost to 
Team Vitality in three games in the Winners Match. NRG then defeated 
Karmine Corp, 2-1, in the group's Decider Match to secure their spot in the Playoffs.
Both 100 Thieves and NRG took the long road to meet in the grand finals, with all of their matches in the first two rounds of the single-elimination Playoffs going to three games.
100 Thieves opened their Playoff campaign by taking down fellow Americas squad MIBR.LOS in three games in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, 100 Thieves defeated Masters Santiago champions 
Nongshim RedForce to become the first team in the grand finals.
Meanwhile, NRG pulled off a 2-1 reverse sweep over home team 
Gentle Mates in the quarterfinals. They then outlasted BBL Esports in three games at the semifinals, setting up an all-Americas showdown for the championship with 100 Thieves in the grand finals.
100 Thieves rout NRG to claim the VALORANT Esports World Cup championship
The grand finals kicked off in Breeze, where 100 Thieves came out swinging by dominating the first half 9-3 as the Attacker side despite NRG winning the pistol round and the conversion. NRG won the pistol round again after the side switch, but they could only manage four more rounds before 100 Thieves closed out the first map with a comfortable 13-7 win.
Game two at Sunset saw 100 Thieves get off to another flying start, winning the pistol round and the conversion as the Defender side to once again finish the first half up 9-3. NRG won three of the first four rounds of the second half but could do little to stop 100 Thieves from claiming the 13-6 win in Sunset and taking a commanding 2-0 series lead.
With their backs against the wall in game three at Haven, NRG finally showed up by racking up 10 rounds in the first half as the Defenders. They then cruised through 100 Thieves in three rounds at the second half to win Haven, 13-3, and force the series to a game four.
NRG looked like they could force the grand finals to a deciding game five at Ascent, where they once again dominated the first half, 9-3, as the Defender side. However, 100 Thieves went on a fiery 7-1 run to start the second half and tie things up at 10-10. NRG were able to right themselves by round 21, winning back-to-back rounds to get just one round away from forcing a game five.
But 100 Thieves simply could not be denied as they won rounds 23 and 24 to force overtime, then racked up back-to-back round wins once again to claim the VALORANT Esports World Cup title with an incredible 14-12 win in Ascent.
