The Challengers Stage of the IEM Rio Major is heading into its final day with the fate of just six teams left to be decided. MOUZ, Bad News Eagles, FURIA, Outsiders, and BIG have all confirmed their spots in the next stage, and just three spots remain up for grabs in the 2-2 round.
Some surprising names have yet to advance, including the No. 2 ranked team in the world, Vitality. Dan "apEX" Madesclaire's side have had a rocky run in Rio so far, starting things off with a win over Imperial but then suffering defeats to GamerLegion and Outsiders to end up in the 1-2 pool. OG also ended up in a similar position, winning their opener but losing their two subsequent matches to fnatic and FURIA.

dupreeh could miss out on the top-16 stage of a Major for the first time in his career
Both teams have since recovered slightly, with Vitality beating Grayhound in a best-of-three, and OG defeating IHC. Everything will be on the line on the final day as the teams will face off against each other for a spot in the Legends Stage, with no extra life remaining for the loser.
Cloud9 have also faltered in Rio, Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov being their only beacon of light early on before Abay "HObbit" Khassenov and Sergey "Ax1Le" Rykhtorov showed up to play on day three. The Russian team will have to continue performing if they want to make it to the top-16 stage, something which isn't a guarantee as a GamerLegion that started out with a 2-0 record in Rio stands between them and advancing.
The final 2-2 matchup will pit fnatic against 9z, a series in which fnatic should be the favorite after they also got off to a 2-0 start only to drop best-of-threes to MOUZ and Outsiders. However, nothing is a guarantee when looking at the form of teams so far in the Challengers Stage, as so fnatic will need to bring their A-game to avoid an upset from the South American squad.
The schedule and matches for the final day of the Challengers Stage can be found below:
2-2 pool (BO3)
Date | Matches |
---|
03/11/2022 | OG 15:00 Vitality | Match |
03/11/2022 | GamerLegion 19:15 Cloud9 | Match |
03/11/2022 | fnatic 22:20  9z | Match |


Imperial #18


Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo

Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga

Ricardo 'boltz' Prass

Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes

Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo


Outsiders #8


Evgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev

Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev

Dzhami 'Jame' Ali

David 'n0rb3r7' Danielyan

Petr 'fame' Bolyshev



BIG #15



Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz

Florian 'syrsoN' Rische

Nils 'k1to' Gruhne

Karim 'Krimbo' Moussa

Elias 's1n' Stein


Cloud9 #5


Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov

Timofey 'interz' Yakushin

Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov

Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov

Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov



Bad News Eagles #23



Rigon 'rigoN' Gashi

Sener 'SENER1' Mahmuti

Flatron 'juanflatroo' Halimi

Dionis 'sinnopsyy' Budeci

Genc 'gxx-' Kolgeci


Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov

Age: 20 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 989 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63


IHC #47


Bat-Enkh 'kabal' Batbayar

Tengis 'sk0R' Batjargal

Tuvshintugs 'Annihilation' Nyamdorj

Garidmagnai 'bLitz' Byambasuren

Sodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold



9z #28



Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez

Franco 'dgt' Garcia

David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado

Lucas 'nqz' Soares

Nicolás 'buda' Kramer


Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov

Age: 28 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1216 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65


OG #14


Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković

Adam 'NEOFRAG' Zouhar

Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan

Abdul 'degster' Gasanov

Maciej 'F1KU' Miklas


Vitality #2


Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire

Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen

Emil 'Magisk' Reif

Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut

Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi


Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov

Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 916 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.53


MOUZ #9


Christopher 'dexter' Nong

David 'frozen' Čerňanský

Jon 'JDC' de Castro

Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás

Dorian 'xertioN' Berman


fnatic #19


Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson

Dion 'FASHR' Derksen

Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidi

Fredrik 'roeJ' Jørgensen

William 'mezii' Merriman


Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire

Age: 29 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 2057 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70


GamerLegion #25


Frederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand

Mihai 'iM' Ivan

Nicolas 'Keoz' Dgus

Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek

Isak 'isak' Fahlén


Grayhound #41


Simon 'Sico' Williams

Jay 'Liazz' Tregillgas

Alistair 'aliStair' Johnston

Joshua 'INS' Potter

Declan 'Vexite' Portelli


FURIA #10


Andrei 'arT' Piovezan

Yuri 'yuurih' Santos

Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato

Rafael 'saffee' Costa

André 'drop' Abreu