Much of Counter-Strike 2’s competitive scene resides in the North American and European side over the years. Sure, there are some events held in Asia, but nothing seems to be bigger than the upcoming event that will be hosted by the Asian Champions League, backed by Hero Esports, this 2026, which will bring a lot of teams hailing from Mainland Asia, Southeast Asia, and even Oceania.

This CS2 event will be held from January to March 2026 for the open qualifiers, while the closed qualifiers comes in from April 29th to May 3rd, 2026. It is a great opening for teams residing in the Asian scene of the game, where there’s not much exposure with the lack of many major tournaments that are expected to come around in the area. With the ACL coming to host one big tournament, it is expected that there will be more teams that will come out to play.

The top 16 teams from the Asian Valve Regional Standings will then receive invitations after the qualifiers. The LAN event will be running from May 11th to 17th. A trial run of the event took place last May, with TYLOO securing victory and $100,000 in prize money – and a slot at the 2025 Esports World Cup.

An Exposure Chance for Asian Teams

Asian CS2 teams aren’t that much popular due to the fact that they don’t get enough chances to participate in the big competitions that the esport comes up with. Still, that doesn’t mean that there’s not a big idea that is coming their way with Asian teams now slated to play in the ACL on a bigger scale.

The ACL is the latest organizer to make an announcement for a CS2 event in 2026. While it is yet to be determined if participating teams and eventual winners will gain entry to the subsequent Esports World Cup 2026, it is already attracting a lot of attention, with teams already coming up with some entries of their own to join the tournament.

Multiple teams are expected to come into the fray and join the hype. For starters, there will be some notable esports groups in the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia for starters. China is also home to major esports teams that are starting to make their presence felt in other games, so ACL bringing CS2 to their doorstep is a huge win at this point.

Crashing Through Some Tournaments

The Asian Champions League isn’t without hiccups, though. For starters, it is already set to experience some difficulty in bringing in some of the top teams in the region with tier-one events already set in the Asian calendar to begin with. One of these tournaments is the PGL Astana, which takes place this May 9th to 17th.

There’s also the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) that usually takes place in the same date proposed by the ACL for its 2026 edition. Still, this means that the Asian Champions League will have the big chance to provide exposure and opportunity for a lot lof lesser-known CS2 teams who are keen to take their chances on the big stage.

In time, the Asian Champions League should have its own prestige, and in the long run, it has the strong potential to even become a tier-one event, and if possible, even a CS2 Major in the making.