Mexico’s LYON has been crowned champion of Free Fire EWC 2026 tournament, defeating 23 opponents across four days of competition in Paris, France. The Latin American organization claimed the largest share of the USD1,000,000 prize pool and secured the first direct qualification spot for the Free Fire World Series Global Finals 2026, set to take place this November in Bangkok, Thailand.
The tournament also broke viewership records, drawing 803,647 peak concurrent viewers and accumulating over 11.3 million hours watched, the highest figures ever recorded for the Free Fire EWC series.
LYON Secures Free Fire EWC 2026 Title
24 teams representing ten competitive regions, including Southeast Asia, Brazil, Latin America, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and the United States, converged in Paris for the event; LYON advanced from the Survival Stage to the Grand Finals, where China’s AG.AL (with Thai players fielded for its Free Fire squad) finished runner-up with 122 points and Brazil’s LOUD took third place with 111 points.
The Grand Finals concluded in a Match Point format, with LYON reaching Champion Rush after Game 5 and securing the decisive Booyah! in Game 7. During the Finals, LYON also set a new all-time record for a global Free Fire esports tournament by recording 33 eliminations in a single game, surpassing the previous record of 28.
The championship-winning roster comprised Gamezking, SoyDella, Joker, Joacozd, and Haax; Benjamín “Gamezking” Pérez was named the tournament’s Overall MVP, earning the first global MVP title of his career. He had previously topped the eliminations leaderboard across multiple weeks of the FFWS Latin America 2026 EWC Qualifier.
LYON’s history stretches back through several rebrands. The organization was formerly known as Rainbow7 and later Movistar R7, before re-adopting the LYON name which was its original moniker when the team was established in 2012. After finishing 11th at Free Fire at EWC 2025, the team regrouped and won the FFWS Latin America 2026 EWC Qualifier in June, carrying that form into the Paris tournament to claim the organization’s first Free Fire EWC title.
With EWC tournament concluded, qualifying campaigns for the FFWS Global Finals 2026 are now underway. The Finals will be held from 6 to 28 November in Bangkok, bringing together 24 qualifying teams competing for the title of Free Fire World Champion. For Malaysian players, the path runs through FFWS Southeast Asia 2026 Fall, which also covers Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The qualifier kicks off in August and concludes in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Pokdepinion: LYON went from finishing 11th last year to setting an all-time elimination record and lifting the trophy in Paris, which is either a masterclass in redemption or proof that everyone else really underestimated them.
