“A historic moment”—Team Falcons members react to their victory at the IEM Cologne Major 2026
Dan Kleiman
Team Falcons players and coaches shared their emotions on their personal social media accounts following their victory over FURIA in the IEM Cologne Major 2026 final.
The team’s rifler, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, quoted his own statement—which he had originally made when Finn “karrigan” Andersen joined the team—and commented on it:
“It’s time to take care of some unfinished business, karrigan”—mission accomplished.
The team’s marksman, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, reflected on previous grand finals and thanked the fans:
Guys, finally—a gold medal. Eight finals. And they were all leading up to making history today. I want to say thank you to everyone—all the fans, all the loyal fans. I want to thank my friends, my family, and my teammates—all of you who support me and make me even stronger. There you go. A historic moment. To be honest, I’m in shock myself. That’s it. Bye, everyone.
Team coach Danny “zonic” Sorensen, in turn, expressed his gratitude to his players and the club’s management:
Major champions!!!!!! Damn, it took a long time to get here, and to be honest, I’ve doubted myself many times over the past couple of years. This is my first win in Cologne, and it’s my sixth Major. I couldn’t have done it without my amazing guys and the Falcons. I’m incredibly proud of the whole team.
Falcons assistant coach Aymein “Aymeinstein” Bencheikh reflected on the difficult road to the title and dedicated the victory to his late uncle:
MAJOR CHAMPIONS IN COLOGNE, DAMN IT!
When I joined this team, I promised myself one thing: to help NiKo and m0NESY win a Major. It doesn’t matter how many finals we lost or how long it took. Today, we did it!
I still can’t believe it. To win this trophy, we had to beat the world’s No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 5 teams. What a journey… What a team… It’s just unbelievable!
And one last thing. Right after our match against NAVI, I found out that my uncle had passed away. I really wanted to tell him that we won. I wanted him to see it. This Major trophy is also for him and my whole family.
Captain Finn “karrigan” Andersen pointed out a funny similarity between the final map of this match and a match from six years ago at the ELEAGUE Major Boston 2018:
2026 Cologne Major Champion!
I’m insanely proud of this, and yes, NiKo, we really did have unfinished business. Thank you for the amazing support, and thank you to my incredible teammates.
It was all like something out of a script: a 12-8 score on Inferno while attacking. Eight years ago, the score was 15–11. Again, a four-round deficit, but this time we were able to overcome it, and I’m incredibly proud of us.
The team’s anchor, René “TeSeS” Madsen, put it quite succinctly:
Champions of the damn Major!!!!!!
The Dane’s teammate, Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin, reacted just as succinctly:
Quote reproduced with the source’s spelling and punctuation intact
Major champions.
Team Falcons defeated FURIA 3-0 in a best-of-5 series at the IEM Cologne Major 2026 to claim the tournament title. The “Falcons” earned $500,000 in prize money for first place. The event’s MVP title went to the team’s sniper, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov.
Photo: Team Falcons.
Dan Kleiman
