PGL has revealed the first 12 teams heading to Kazakhstan this May for PGL Astana 2026, a tier-one Counter-Strike 2 event with a massive $1.6 million prize pool.
The tournament will run from May 9 to 17, 2026, with the final three days hosted in front of a live crowd at Barys Arena in Astana. The invited lineup includes Spirit, PARIVISION, FURIA, Falcons, G2, The MongolZ, MOUZ, Aurora, Heroic, Gentle Mates, Monte, and FUT Esports.
These teams have secured direct spots at the event, and the invites were determined using Valve Regional Standings (VRS) from the global table as of March 2, 2026.
While the initial 12 names are locked, four more teams will still have to battle through regional qualifiers to secure their tickets to Kazakhstan. In total, the event will feature 16 teams, with the remaining slots coming from Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with FUT Esports as they’re one of the participating teams in IEM Atlanta 2026, which takes place from May 11, 2026, overlapping with PGL Astana.
Prize pool that looks like a Major championship
Astana 2026 will be one of the biggest non-Major events in the current CS2 cycle, thanks to an increased prize pool of $1.6 million, surpassing 2025’s Astana event, which had a $625,000 prize pool.
The team that secures first place will earn $256,000, while every team at the 16-squad event will walk away with at least some portion of the pot.
For players and orgs, this makes Astana 2026 one of the most valuable stops on the 2026 calendar outside of Majors. This puts the tournament in the same financial bracket as IEM Katowice or BLAST Premier Finals. Earlier, PGL unveiled a $22million CS2 Tier 1 Program that challenges the likes of ESL.
Astana has already started to establish itself as a recurring stop on the CS2 map, and 2026 is set to raise the bar again. The final three days of PGL Astana 2026 will take over Barys Arena, lying in the heart of Kazakhstan’s capital, which previously hosted the 2025 edition. You can head over to their official website to book tickets if you’re planning to experience the LAN atmosphere.
