M80 receive direct invite to IEM Atlanta 2026 as nine teams decline invites to NA LAN

ESL have announced the main event invites for IEM Atlanta 2026, seeing NRG, M80, and Liquid among the squads invited to a LAN that has seemingly struggled to attract top talent. Nine teams declined invites to the NA LAN, with big names including FURIA, PARIVISION, Falcons, and Spirit skipping out on ESL's event offering.

As first pointed out by HLTV, the majority of top teams have seemingly decided to favor PGL Astana 2026, which clashes with IEM Atlanta, due to its massive $1.6m prizepool and the relative ease of acquiring visas for Kazakhstan compared to the United States.

ESL's tournaments in the United States have historically been fraught with visa issues, with every iteration of IEM Dallas seeing at least one team affected by visa issues over the past four years. Fortunately, Atlanta will still have some top-tier representation as Vitality, NAVI, and FaZe have claimed spots in the event alongside fan-favorite Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and his BC.Game squad.

The team list for IEM Atlanta 2026 currently consists of:

IEM Atlanta 2026 is set to run from May 11th to May 17th.