North Macedonia National Team has won the IESF World Esports Championship in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The team defeated Mongolia in the final and before that also beat BIG Academy from Germany.
A defeat against Russia had initially promoted North Macedonia to the lower bracket, but the team secured revenge in the semifinals. Although Mongolia went into the final with a one-game advantage as upper bracket winners, North Macedonia took three maps in a row in strong fashion to secure the title.
As the German national team, BIG Academy had played its way out of the qualifier and into the main draw. The run ended after defeats against both finalists but already in the lower bracket, which means that the team in fourth place did not take home any prize money.
In the world championship of the e-sports umbrella organization International Esports Federation, players do not compete for teams, but for their national teams. Despite some mixed teams, the four best participant teams also play together outside of the World Cup: Mongolia plays for major participants IHG Esports, world champion North Macedonia for the Danish-German organization Bluejays.