First Stand 2026 Group Draw Denies Fans EU vs NA matchup

First Stand 2026 will take place from March 16 to 22 in São Paulo, Brazil. With all eight participating teams confirmed, here are the groups that will kick off the first international tournament of the year.

First Stand 2026 Pools

The First Stand’s seeding is as follows:

• Pool 1: Gen.G (GEN), BiliBili Gaming (BLG)
• Pool 2: LOUD, Team Secret Whales (TSW), G2 Esports (G2), LYON
• Pool 3: BNK FearX (BFX), JD Gaming (JDG)

Each group features one team from Pool 1, one from Pool 3, and two teams from Pool 2. Regional matchups are not allowed in the group, meaning that Gen.G will go paired with JD Gaming while BiliBili Gaming will be in the same group as BNK FearX.

First Stand 2026 Group Draw Results

The group draw was completed after the end of the LPL Finals on March 8 by pro players Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang and Liu “Crisp” Qing-Song

• Group A: BLG vs BFX, G2 vs TSW 
• Group B: GEN vs JDG, LYON vs LOUD

FST Group Impressions

The group draw wasn’t as exciting as fans would’ve probably hoped. Western fans won’t have the EU vs NA rivalry since they got placed into two different groups and both would have to advance to playoffs to have a match. Home team LOUD will go up against LYON in yet another NA vs LATAM matchup after the Americas Cup.

Most of the attention, however, will go to the Eastern teams, with Gen.G going up against JD Gaming. Once again, it will be Wong “Tabe” Pak Kan’s opportunity to get his revenge after he and Anyone’s Legend were knocked out at Worlds last year. BNK FearX’s performance against BLG, on the other hand, will tell us whether this year’s LCK has gotten stronger again, or if it’s only Gen.G who’s dominating.

Compared to the previous year, First Stand has a total of eight teams, following the addition of second seeds from the LPL and LCK, as well as the seed from the CBLOL. Teams will be competing each day from March 16 to March 22, featuring Fearless best-of-five series.

Despite the increased number of participants, First Stand is still receiving major criticism due to its short duration and the low capacity at the hosting venue. This year, the Riot Games studio in São Paulo, Brazil, will only be able to hold 140 people, a number that is considered way too low for the large League of Legends community in the country, especially compared to when it held its previous tournament back in 2017 for MSI. On that occasion, the main event was held at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, with a total capacity of 15,430 people.