Russian team Team Spirit has become the champion of The International 2026 in Dota 2. In the grand final of the tournament in Shanghai, the team defeated TEAM VISION with a score of 3:2 and won their third Aegis of Champions in history.
Team Spirit became the first organization to win The International three times. The team secured its previous two championships in 2021 and 2023. Before this victory, Spirit shared the record of two Aegises with OG, who won the tournament in 2018 and 2019.
The path to the third title was not easy. Team Spirit finished the group stage with a 3:2 record, and in the playoffs, they lost to TEAM VISION and dropped to the lower bracket. There, the team successively eliminated Team Liquid, BoomBoys, and Team Yandex, after which they took revenge on TEAM VISION in the grand final.
Ilya Yatoro Mulyarchuk and Magomed Collapse Khalilov also became three-time The International champions – both participated in all three victorious Team Spirit rosters. Denis Larl Sigitov won his second Aegis after the 2023 championship, while Alexey not me Kosmynin and Alexander rue Filin won the main Dota 2 tournament for the first time. Yaroslav Miposhka Naidenov, with whom Spirit won TI 2021 and 2023, this time helped the team as part of the coaching staff.