Iberian Soul fall at the worst possible moment: out of EWC in the week they lost their org
There's no way to tell this defeat without telling what surrounds it. Iberian Soul were eliminated from the Esports World Cup 2026 qualifier after losing 2-1 to 6666 in the decisive Group 8 match, just hours after Gentle Mates officially confirmed their departure from Counter-Strike, leaving the Spanish side without an organization.
The result stings on its own. 6666 sit 209th in Strafe's world rankings; Iberian Soul, 49th. On paper it wasn't close — and even less so given how the Spaniards arrived: on a four-match winning streak with an 86% win rate over the previous thirty days, well above their historical average.
No organization, in the middle of the biggest tournament
The context explains almost everything. On August 7, the same day the qualifier began in Paris, HLTV confirmed the news that had been brewing for weeks: Gentle Mates are leaving Counter-Strike. The French organization had been looking for a buyer for its roster since June, and along the way had already lost its star, Antonio "MartinezSa" Martinez, who signed for HEROIC.
With no club behind them, the team returned to competing under the name they were born with: Iberian Soul, the tag they adopted in January 2025 after splitting from KOI and which stayed with them until Gentle Mates signed them in August that year. Back to square one, with mopoz, dav1g, sausol, alex, and CRUC1AL, and djL on the bench.
"It's affecting us mentally"
The most revealing statement came from alex himself in an interview given during the tournament: the team is in talks with several organizations, but the uncertainty is taking a mental toll.
It's an admission that puts everything else in order. Competing in a 64-team offline qualifier against opponents whose seasons hang in the balance is demanding for anyone. Doing it without knowing whether you'll have a team next month, while negotiating your own future between matches, is something else entirely.
None of these players is a rookie. mopoz has been on the scene since 2015, with six years at Movistar Riders behind him. The group won The Proving Grounds Season 2 in July 2025 and the Roman Imperium Cup I a month later. They know how to compete. What can't be asked is that they compete at their peak while the ground shifts beneath them.
A qualifier that swallowed nearly everyone
There's relative consolation in knowing Iberian Soul weren't the only ones to fall. The Paris Last Chance Qualifier proved to be a meat grinder: Liquid, BC.Game, HEROIC, fnatic, Virtus.pro, and NRG also missed out. The four available spots went to 100 Thieves, BIG, K27, and JiJieHao.
Especially symbolic for Spanish fans: HEROIC, with MartinezSa, didn't make it either, falling to fnatic. In other words, neither of the two paths taken by the players of the old Spanish core ended in Paris.
What comes next
What matters most for Iberian Soul is no longer on the server, but in the boardroom. Finding an organization is the absolute priority: without a structure behind them, a team at this level will struggle to sustain an international calendar, travel, and salaries.
The Spanish scene has proven several times that it knows how to rebuild — this very group did exactly that after leaving KOI — and the competitive level is still there, as their run before Paris shows. But the clock is ticking, and alex's words make clear the strain isn't only competitive.
Source: HLTV, Liquipedia, Strafe.