Hero Esports Asian Champions League 2026 for CS2 Announced — $130,000 and Finals in China

Hero Esports organizers have announced the second season of the Asian Champions League 2026 tournament for Counter-Strike 2. The final stage of ACL 2026 will take place from May 11 to 17 in a lan format in China. The total prize pool for the tournament will be $130,000. The announcement was made on Hero Esports' official pages.

The lan portion of the tournament will consist of a closed qualifier from April 29 to May 3 and the playoffs, which will be held from May 11 to 17. A total of 16 top teams from Asia will compete in the decisive stage. Both lan stages of ACL 2026 will be held in China. The exact venue will be announced later.

The prize pool for the Asian Champions League 2026 will be $130,000. The tournament winner will receive $80,000, the runner-up will get $30,000. Participants finishing in 3rd-4th places will earn $10,000 each, 5th-6th places will receive $7,000 each, and teams ending the playoffs in 7th-8th positions will get $3,000 each. Compared to the previous tournament, the first-place prize has decreased by $20,000.

Tournament Format
ACL 2026 includes three stages. Online qualifiers (Open Qualifiers) will take place from January to March in the following regions: China, the Pacific region, Southeast Asia, and the rest of Asia. Eleven teams from these qualifiers will secure slots in the closed qualifier.

The closed qualifier will also feature 4 teams based on the Valve ranking and 1 invited team (wildcard invitation). The top four teams will earn spots in the playoffs, where they will join 12 teams based on the Asian Valve ranking.

The first season of the Asian Champions League 2025 took place in May 2025. The winner was TyLoo , who defeated teams like Lynn Vision , FlyQuest, and The Huns on their way to the title. The team claimed $100,000 and secured a spot in the Esports World Cup 2025.