16 Down,
16 to Go
The regional qualifiers open June 12. Half the field already isn’t coming through them. Here is who locked their spot, how the two routes worked and what the confirmed 16 look like as a group.
EWC 2026 Trackmania features 32 players competing in Paris from August 19–22 for a $500,000 prize pool. Qualification runs across three pathways: DreamHack Birmingham (8 spots), the Elite Cup in-game ranking (8 spots), and online regional qualifiers (16 spots across Europe, North America, South America, MENA, SEA & Oceania and Asia). The regional qualifiers run June 12–14.
DreamHack Birmingham
Forty players travelled to Birmingham in late March. Eight left with tickets to Paris. Pac won it for Team Vitality, becoming the first event winner that is connected to EWC 2026. CarlJr. finished second for Falcons. The remaining six spots went to Wosile, GranaDy, Bren, eLconn21 (Elmer?), Epos, and Mudda.
Eight players, six nations. The first confirmed group for Paris already spans three continents.
Elite Cup Top 8
While Birmingham was running offline, the Elite Cup was deciding the other eight spots through ten Black Track Cups of the Week across Winter and Spring. Best five results count. The ranking closed May 31, with DHB qualifiers excluded from the standings so no one could double-dip.
The eight: Binkss (All Gamers Global), Massa (BIG), Nayko (FUT), Gwenn (All Gamers Global), Otaaaq (Team Liquid), Soulja (free agent), mime (NAVI), Affi (free agent). Four of the eight are French. With Paris hosting, four additional French players now enter EWC on home soil, which adds a layer to how that side of the bracket reads coming to August.
All 16 confirmed — at a glance
| # | Player | Team | Route |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pac | Team Vitality | DreamHack Birmingham |
| 2 | CarlJr | Team Falcons | DreamHack Birmingham |
| 3 | GranaDy | BIG | DreamHack Birmingham |
| 4 | Epos | Team Liquid | DreamHack Birmingham |
| 5 | Mudda | ROC Esports | DreamHack Birmingham |
| 6 | Bren | Twisted Minds | DreamHack Birmingham |
| 7 | eLconn21 | Nemesis | DreamHack Birmingham |
| 8 | Wosile | Gen.G | DreamHack Birmingham |
| 9 | Binkss | All Gamers Global | Elite Cup |
| 10 | Massa | BIG | Elite Cup |
| 11 | Nayko | FUT Esports | Elite Cup |
| 12 | Gwenn | All Gamers Global | Elite Cup |
| 13 | Otaaaq | Team Liquid | Elite Cup |
| 14 | Soulja | Free Agent | Elite Cup |
| 15 | mime | NAVI | Elite Cup |
| 16 | Affi | Free Agent | Elite Cup |
Europe (6 spots), North America (3 spots), South America (2 spots), MENA (1 spot), Asia (1 spot) and SEA & Oceania (3 spots), all run across the same weekend. The remaining half of the EWC field gets decided in 72 hours.
A few things stand out in the confirmed 16. Soulja and Affi got through on points without org backing, which means two free agents are already in Paris regardless of what happens next weekend. BIG have two players confirmed across both routes (GranaDy via Birmingham, Massa via Elite Cup), as do All Gamers Global (Binkss and Gwen) and Team Liquid (Epos and Otaaaq). Vitality, Falcons, Nemesis, NaVi, Gen.G, ROC esports, FUT and Twisted Minds each have one so far.
The regional qualifiers open Thursday. 16 spots, four regions, one weekend. The other half of this field fills in over 72 hours.