woxic on FURIA: “I really enjoy playing against these guys because they’re our good friends.”

Aurora Gaming sniper Özgür “woxic” Eker spoke in an interview at the IEM Cologne Major 2026 about the team’s progress in their matches on stage and shared his expectations for the matchup against FURIA.
On the mood ahead of the semifinals
I’m doing great. We feel ready; we’ve done all the necessary preparation. For us, this is like the final. We’ll give it our all to win.
On performing on stage
When you lose a lot on stage in front of an audience over a long period of time, you just start to get used to it—to that feeling, the atmosphere, and everything else as a team. And then you can bring the same level of play to the stage that you’ve shown in studio conditions. I don’t think it affects us at all anymore. And I’m really glad about that, because this is the biggest tournament, the most important one right now. And I feel like we don’t have that pressure anymore. I can tell from TeamSpeak, from the way we help each other communicate. Everything is very calm.
On the match against FURIA
Social media is going to go crazy. And I think if the match is close, we could break some records. It seems like a record was already broken yesterday, and I think this match could set another one if the game is intense, with overtime and a third map. It’s going to be a very close game. I really enjoy playing against these guys because they’re good friends of ours. And it’ll come down to both teams trying to figure out who’s going to send whom home. You’ll be both happy and upset at the same time, because you’re the one sending them home. Or they’ll send us home if they win. But we’ll do everything we can. We’re ready; we’ve prepared everything. I also wish them luck. The stronger team will win and advance to the finals.
Earlier, Aurora Gaming defeated BetBoom Team 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the IEM Cologne Major 2026 and advanced to the semifinals of a Major for the first time in its history. Ozgur “woxic” Eker’s team is currently facing FURIA in a match to determine who advances to the championship grand final.


