RED Canids qualify for IEM Rio 2026

RED Canids have locked in a spot at IEM Rio 2026 after defeating BESTIA to end their qualifier campaign on January 23rd. They recovered from a map-one defeat to beat them 2-1 and reach their first big tournament of 2026.

The qualifier victory brings their match streak up to nine wins in a row since David "dav1deuS" Tapia returned from his stint on paiN. While they have only faced regional opposition, it is still a strong start to the year.

Also read: Breaking: Wildcard sign HexT

After making it through the open qualifier, RED Canids took down some solid teams on their way to the final. They began by beating Sharks 2-0 then followed it up by beating qualifier favorites Imperial 2-1.

They then beat BESTIA 2-0 in the upper-bracket final before facing them again in the qualifying match. Despite a tough first map loss, RED Canids recovered and got two comfortable map wins to take the series and the spot at Rio.

Ex-paiN players shined as Kaue "kauez" Kaschuk had the best rating over the series while dav1deuS dominated on the final map with over 100 ADR.

IEM Rio 2026 Americas Closed Qualifier

Bo3

RED Canids

2 - 1

BESTIA

StatisticsOverview

All maps

RED Canids	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Kaue 'kauez' Kaschuk	42 - 32	+10	80.1	70.7%	1.35
Allan 'history' Lawrenz	50 - 37	+13	82.0	79.3%	1.24
David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado	47 - 38	+9	83.1	79.3%	1.18
Richard 'chayJESUS' Seidy	36 - 42	-6	77.7	75.9%	0.97
André 'drop' Abreu	34 - 36	-2	70.3	74.1%	0.90

BESTIA	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Cássio 'cass1n' Santos	46 - 35	+11	72.7	75.9%	1.13
Tomas 'tomaszin' Corna	35 - 45	-10	79.4	74.1%	1.08
Nicolás 'buda' Kramer	35 - 44	-9	72.9	67.2%	0.94
Cristhian 'timo' Perez	35 - 44	-9	68.1	72.4%	0.92
Nicolás 'Noktse' Dávila	33 - 41	-8	55.6	62.1%	0.80

Maps

6

Nuke

13

13

Ancient

6

13

Inferno

7

cass1n17 kills

Most kills

cass1n1.55 rating

Best rating

tomaszin1.73 rating

Best t-side

cass1n1.87 rating

Best ct-side

Nuke Rounds

history20 kills

Most kills

kauez1.72 rating

Best rating

dav1deuS1.49 rating

Best t-side

kauez2.30 rating

Best ct-side

Ancient Rounds

dav1deuS20 kills

Most kills

dav1deuS1.45 rating

Best rating

drop1.67 rating

Best t-side

kauez1.77 rating

Best ct-side

Inferno Rounds

The full team list for IEM Rio is:

RED Canids will play later today at 06:30PM against MIBR in the semifinals of Circuit X Redemption Curitiba.

Also read: Four North American talents will be present on the IEM Kraków broadcast