Siege Esports Nations Cup 2026 MEA Qualifier: Everything you need to know

MEA doesn't often get opportunities to shine in Rainbow Six Siege's esports ecosystem; however, their time has finally come.

The Siege Esports Nations Cup 2026 MEA qualifier will give us a chance to see nations from Africa and the Middle East in action. Whilst we are used to see players from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, or even Morocco and Algeria after some national switches, we don't often have the opportunity to see players from Cameroon, Senegal, Zambia, or Tunisia in the server. Now, they will have a shot at glory.

Here's what you need to know at the region's first step towards the Rainbow Six Siege Esports Nations Cup 2026:

Format

The Rainbow Six Siege Esports Nations Cup 2026 MEA Qualifier will use a double-elimination bracket with BO3 matches.

Including twenty countries, the first round of the bracket will only include eight matchups, including Tunisia vs. Cameroon, Azerbaijan vs. Egypt, Ethiopia vs. Oman, and South Africa vs. Senegal.

Only the best two nations will qualify for the Rainbow Six Siege Esports World Cup 2026, set to be played in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in November 2026.

Dates

The Rainbow Six Siege Esports Nations Cup 2026 MEA Qualifier will be played between May 28 and May 31. You can follow the bracket of the competition here.

Nations

As mentioned above, the Rainbow Six Siege Esports Nations Cup 2026 MEA Qualifier will include 20 nations, all of them listed below:

• Angola
• Algeria
• Azerbaijan
• Cameroon
• Egypt
• Ethiopia
• Iraq
• Kenya
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Morocco
• Oman
• Saudi Arabia
• Senegal
• South Africa
• Syria
• Tunisia
• Türkiye
• Zambia

The main favourite nation to win the qualifier is Saudi Arabia as the team includes three Twisted Minds players as well as their head coach. The mix also includes players from Al-Ula Club and the former Team Falcons and Geekay Esports player Omar "Eaglex99" Al Dajani, who currently plays for Team Vision.

The second place is hard to predict, though. Kuwait quickly comes to mind as the nation includes the Alsaeedi twins, Abdulrahman "Guardz" Alsaeedi and Abdullah "Dov2hkiin" Alsaeedi. Both players had competed together for Team Falcons, where they finished among the best eight sides at the Six Invitational 2025. They had also played together for Twisted Minds, and, more recently, Guards stepped-in for his brother as he helped the MENA roster to reach the semifinals of the BLAST R6 Major Salt Lake City.

It's also worth mentioning Türkiye, who are led by Team Falcons' Fatih "Solotov" Türker and Julio "Julio" Giacomelli, with the Brazilian logically acting as the nation's head coach. The team also includes three players from Turks LFO, a popular Tier 2 roster in Europe, as well as the former Geekay Esports and Team Falcons player Ahmet "SRSLy" Hasan, as well as Turqo and Efe "GutterO" Aras.

We also want to highlight Algeria and Morocco, who have got some players who usually competed under the French flag but who decided to represent their families' African countries of origin. These are the cases of Rebels Gaming's Shaih "Feno" Benaisse, Rahian "Asa" Ramos, Jawad "Linkoo" Oudghiri, and Marteau. The first two will represent Morocco, whilst the other two will represent Algeria. Additionally, Virtus.pro's Ilhan "Nayqo" Jabbari will also represent Morocco, as well as the Brazilian coach César "Dark" Adriano. The now-former Rebels Gaming coach and former Natus Vincere coach Razig "DraZ" Abida will lead the Algerian project.

Finally, we must also note Jordan, as the nation includes the Twisted Minds IGL Fayez "Jlad" Jallad. He's the only player with international experience in the roster, though.

At the time of writing, no countries from MEA have qualified for Rainbow Six Siege's Esports Nations Cup 2026. However, the region will be represented by at least two nations, with a third one likely coming from the two available Wildcard slots, as one of them will likely be given to a nation from the Gulf Cooperation Council.

For more information about Rainbow Six Siege and its esports scene, make sure to check out Siege.GG.