Fans speculate ESL will reveal the IEM Cologne 2026 Major this weekend after teasing "Special Announcement"

On the official ESL schedule for the IEM Cologne 2025 playoffs, a special announcement titled "The Revelation" is listed after the grand final, leading several to believe a Major announcement will be made.

On the GlobalOffensive subreddit, a post regarding the scheduled announcement features a number of comments from fans speculating that ESL will be announcing the IEM Cologne 2026 Major.

ESL has already announced a slate of tournaments for 2026: IEM Krakow in February, IEM Brazil in April, an IEM event in the United States in May, and an IEM China event in November. On the ESL website's tournament page, there is an unnamed, location-less ESL event listed for September 24th through October 11th, though that could be ESL Pro League Season 24 given the timing and the duration.

Currently there have been no official announcements or reports detailing the host organizer or city for either of the 2026 Majors, assuming there will be two like in 2024 and 2025. For context, the StarLadder Budapest Major scheduled to start this November was announced six months prior in May.

If Cologne does host the Major in 2026, it will mark 10 years since the last time the Major was contested in the Cathedral of Counter-Strike.