The IEM Cologne Major 2026 wrapped up on June 21 after nearly three weeks of competition, and HLTV has handed out its Exceptional Valuable Player awards to ten players who turned heads throughout the tournament. The EVP honors sit just below the MVP designation in HLTV’s recognition hierarchy, essentially marking the players who were one tier below the best performer at the event.
That MVP title went to Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, who posted a 1.25 rating across the tournament. For context, anything above 1.10 is considered strong at a Major. A 1.25 is the kind of number that makes analysts run out of superlatives.
Inside the tournament results
The Cologne Major carried a $1.25 million prize pool. Falcons claimed the championship and the $500K first-place prize. FURIA finished in second place, with Spirit and Aurora rounding out the top four, sharing third and fourth place in the final standings.
The tournament structure unfolded across three distinct phases. Stage 1 ran from June 2 through June 5, followed by Stage 2 from June 6 to June 9. The main event then carried through the remaining days until the grand final on June 21.
