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Team Falcons Sweep Spacestation Gaming to Win RLCS 2026 World Championship
Team Falcons won its first RLCS World Championship title on Sunday, September 20, defeating Spacestation Gaming 4-0 in the grand final in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to the organization's first world championship, the result also gave the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region its first title at the Rocket League World Championship.
Rw9 and Kiileerrz became world champions for the first time, while dralii ifted the trophy for a second time after winning the RLCS 2024 World Championship with Team BDS. Kiileerrz was named tournament MVP.
Falcons Turn Lower-Bracket Run Into a Title
With their accumulated points not enough to secure a direct berth in the World Championship's main stage, Falcons had to start in the Play-In. A pair of 3-1 wins over FUT Esports and R8 Esports secured qualification. In the group stage, the team also beat Spacestation 3-2 and MIBR 3-0, but a 3-1 loss to Karmine Corp sent Falcons into the lower bracket of the playoffs.
From there, there was no room for error. Falcons eliminated FURIA 4-1, repeated the scoreline against Shopify Rebellion, and then took down reigning world champion NRG by the same 4-1 score. The semifinal brought a rematch with Karmine Corp, which Falcons won 4-2 to book a place in the grand final.
On the other side was a Spacestation Gaming team that had also survived a long playoff run. The lineup of João “diaz” Henrique, Jack “reveal” LeDuc and Zachary “zach” Stone reached its second consecutive international grand final against Falcons after finishing runner-up at the Esports World Cup.
The grand final ended with exactly the same scoreline as in Paris. Falcons never let SSG turn the final into a long series, closing out the best-of-seven in four games to complete the 4-0 sweep and end the season as world champions.
First-Ever Title for MENA
The result also marked a historic shift for the RLCS. Until then, world titles had been concentrated among organizations from North America and Europe. Falcons' victory put MENA atop the circuit's premier 3v3 championship for the first time.
Rocket League Will Move to Unreal Engine 6 in 2027
World Championship weekend also brought major news about Rocket League's future. During the broadcast, Psyonix shared an update on the game's move to Unreal Engine 6 and revealed that professional players and content creators are already taking part in the development process.
According to the material shown during the event, pros have been testing builds of the game at LAN events and providing feedback directly to the developers. Alexis “zen” Bernier, Archie “Archie” Pickthall and Victor “Ferra” Francal are among the names featured in the video presented by Rocket League.
The move to Unreal Engine 6 was first revealed during the Paris Major in May. Since then, Epic Games has also confirmed that Rocket League's migration is planned for 2027. The original game launched in 2015 using Unreal Engine 3.
With the World Championship over and the technology transition already being tested with professional players, 2027 opens a new chapter for Rocket League. Before then, however, the 2026 season ends with Falcons atop the RLCS and MENA holding its first world trophy.
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Featured image credit: Team Falcons
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