OverviewCounter-Strike 2 at the Esports Nations Cup works in a unique way. There are no direct invites, and no roster selection from an appointed coach. Instead, any player can form a roster, and every slot at ENC is earned by qualification. Here’s how it works:
- First, 96 countries/territories will be selected to hold a national/territorial qualifier. In each of these 96 qualifiers, between 32 and 64 rosters will be allowed to participate. Whoever wins their respective qualifier becomes the country/territory’s representative team.
- Second, the 96 winners of the qualifiers move on to the regional stage, where they are separated into 10 regional qualifiers. Each of these regional qualifiers will grant between 1 and 4 slots at ENC.
Selection of Countries/Territories
The ENC Ranking will be used to determine country/territory eligibility for the 96 available Qualifiers. This ranking is based on the Valve Ranking System (VRS), with a cut-off aligned to the June update
The ENC ranking assigns points to each player in the VRS, and a country or territory’s total score is calculated by combining the points of the top five highest-ranked players. A maximum of three players from the same club may be counted toward this total, in line with the Player Eligibility Rules & Regulations (1.4.1B)
The highest-ranked countries/territories will be selected for a national/territorial qualifier, with the following split per region:
- North America: 8 countries/territories will have a qualifier
- South America: 8 qualifiers
- Europe West: 16 qualifiers
- Europe East: 16 qualifiers
- Middle East & Central Asia: 16 qualifiers
- North Africa: 4 qualifiers
- Sub Saharan Africa: 8 qualifiers
- South & East Asia: 8 qualifiers
- Southeast Asia: 8 qualifiers
- Oceania: 4 qualifiers
In the event that the VRS ranking (and its players) does not contain enough countries/territories to determine the 96 qualifiers according to the above allocation, an additional ranking will be established based on the sum of the FACEIT ELO of the top 40 active players from each country or territory not part of the VRS ranking, measured during the full month of May.
For clarity, any country or territory represented in the VRS ranking will always be ranked above those ranked solely via FACEIT ELO.
Regional Country & Territory Assignment
For the purposes of this competition, Regional Country & Territory Assignment refers to the official allocation of countries and territories to specific competitive regions.
- North America: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin Islands, US
- South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela
- EU West: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
- EU East: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine
- Middle East + Central Asia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen
- North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia
- Sub Saharan Africa: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
- South + East Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Chinese Taipei, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, China, India, Japan, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka
- Southeast Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Democratic Rep. of Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
- Oceania: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
Registration of rosters
Once the 96 countries/territories are determined, everyone will have to register on FACEIT to be able to participate. The registration process is fully open. However, at the deadline of registration, only the best 32 rosters registered will be allowed to play into the qualifier. In specific countries/territories, that number will be increased to the best 64 rosters registered.
Roster selection for the qualifiers will be based 1) on the June VRS ranking and 2) on cumulative FACEIT ELO points of the players registered, for the countries & territories not featured in the VRS.
We apply the following to all rosters who register:
- All players must satisfy the requirements of the Player Eligibility Rules & Regulations
- All players must be citizens of the country/territory of the qualifier they play in.
- For players appearing in the VRS rankings, no more than 3 players from the same VRS-ranked team may be registered on a single roster.
- Only Faceit verified players are allowed to compete in the qualifiers
National/territorial Qualifiers
The qualifiers will take place online between July 6 and July 16, 2026. Each qualifier will last up to 3 days within that time window. We will announce later which dates and times each country/territory will be playing, and we will try to accommodate for all players to be able to attend them by not conflicting with other tier 1 & 2 events.
The format will be single-elimination, Best-of-three. Seeding for the qualifiers will be based 1) on the June VRS ranking and 2) on cumulative FACEIT ELO points of the players registered, for the countries & territories not featured in the VRS. The winning team will officially become the representative for ENC at the regional qualifiers.
Regional Qualifiers
The winners of the 96 National/Territorial Qualifiers are grouped into their respective regions, with 10 regions in total giving between 1 and 4 slots at ENC, for a total of 24 teams at ENC.
- North America: 3 slots available for ENC
- South America: 3 slots
- EU West: 4 slots
- EU East: 4 slots
- Middle East + Central Asia: 3 slots
- North Africa: 1 slot
- Sub Saharan Africa: 1 slot
- South + East Asia: 2 slots
- Southeast Asia: 2 slots
- Oceania: 1 slot
The regional qualifiers will take place from July 17 to July 19, lasting between 1 and 3 days depending on the number of teams participating. The format will be double-elimination, Best-of-three. Seeding for the regional qualifiers will be based 1) on the June VRS ranking, 2) on the ENC Ranking, and 3) on FACEIT Elo points for the countries & territories not featured in the former two.