Asian Champions League unveils $150,000 CS2 event for 2026

Tournament organiser Hero Esports has announced the second edition of the Asian Champions League (ACL) for Counter-Strike 2 (CS2).

The event will take place in May 2026 and features a $150,000 (~£110,330) prize pool.

Open qualifiers for the event will be open to teams based in China, Southeast Asia and Oceania. Set to take place from January to March, 11 teams will earn a spot in the closed qualifiers taking place in China from April 29th to May 3rd, 2026.

Once the closed qualifiers have concluded and teams have advanced, the top 16 teams from the Asian Valve Regional Standings (VRS) will receive direct invitations to the LAN event running from May 11th to 17th.

The first edition of the event took place in May, attracting several teams from across the APAC region. TYLOO secured victory, taking home $100,000 (~£74,191) in prize money and a place at the Esports World Cup.

Notably, the first ACL CS2 event had a $300,000 (~£222,504) prize pool, $150,000 more than next year’s tournament. In addition, the tournament organiser hasn’t revealed if the winner will qualify for next year’s Esports World Cup.

The ACL is the latest organiser to announce a CS2 event taking place in 2026. This particular event may experience difficulty when attracting top teams from the region, with two tier-one events already part of the calendar.

PGL Astana is taking place from May 9th to 17th, while an Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) event in the United States occurs from May 11th to 17th.

With the likes of TYLOO, Lynn Vision Gaming, and FlyQuest regularly competing in Tier 1 tournaments, teams may have to choose which events to compete in.

If teams choose to prioritise other tournaments, the ACL has the potential to provide lesser-known teams with an opportunity to compete on one of Asian Counter-Strike’s biggest stages.