Image credit: Electronic Arts
The Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Year 5 Championship has begun, kicking off with APAC North’s ENTER FORCE.36 topping the first day of the Group Stage.
Taking place in Sapporo, Japan, the Group Stage has already seen multiple teams stand out from the crowd, from early contenders dominating to surprise underdogs challenging expectations. Esports Insider takes a look at a hectic day one of the ALGS Year 5 Championship.
But first, here’s how the format works. The ALGS 2026 Championship Group Stage features 40 of the world’s best teams. Divided into four groups of 10, each group will play against the others in a round-robin format. Teams earn points by outsurviving other organisations and by securing eliminations during matches.
Although there is no elimination in the Group Stage, the standings have a massive bearing on the overall tournament. The Group Stage determines how teams are seeded in the Bracket Stage of the tournament, where the first round of eliminations will take place. The top 20 enter the Upper Bracket, while the bottom 20 join the Lower Bracket.
ENTER FORCE.36 Challenges Team Falcons
As the competition commenced, an unexpected rivalry emerged. ALGS Open 2025 champion Team Falcons found itself in a neck-and-neck race against APAC North competitor ENTER FORCE.36 in the first series of the Group Stage (Group C vs Group D).
Team Falcons began its ALGS Championship quest with an explosive start. After wiping out a third of the lobby in the first game on Storm Point, Team Falcons was on the cusp of claiming its first win, but ENTER FORCE.36, with less than half of the eliminations, ultimately played the long game and won the final gunfight against Team Falcons, Five Fears and Virtus.pro.
The rest of the series would see both teams go back and forth as ENTER FORCE.36 became the first unexpected obstacle for Team Falcons.
In the second game, ENTER FORCE.36 attempted a similar strategy — avoid direct confrontations. However, it placed 9th after securing one elimination. Meanwhile, Team Falcons adopted a more aggressive approach, ending with 12 kills after defeating Liquid Alienware in the final fight.
After Team Falcons won Game 3, the outcome of the first series seemed decided. However, ENTER FORCE.36 made a major comeback as the map shifted to E-District. Games four and five would belong to the APAC North representative, winning both maps as Team Falcons struggled to keep up.
In the end, due to Team Falcons’ sheer consistency across the five games, the first series saw the Saudi Arabian organisation come out on top, finishing with a score of 91 points and a staggering 51 eliminations. ImperialHal also topped the kill leaderboard despite his go-to controller being banned the day before the ALGS Championship started.
Team Falcons took the early lead following the first series of matches. But as the rest of the Group Stage unfolded, ENTER FORCE.36 would eventually claw its way back to the top after an eventful second series, securing a total of 133 points.
As a result, the Asian esports organisation has put itself in a fantastic position ahead of day two, where the Group Stage will conclude.
How the Second Series Flipped the Script
The first series saw many of the biggest hitters claim battle royale victories, from Alliance and Citadel Gaming in Group A vs B, to Team Falcons in Group C vs D.
However, the second set of match-ups showcased less popular teams in the Apex Legends scene.
GROW Gaming, a roster that failed to make its mark in the initial series, was a stand out team in Group B vs D. In Game 1 on E-District, GROW Gaming was able to use Newcastle’s shield and Caustic’s gas in the final ring to corner the three other rosters, FYR Strays, Hot Dog Mafia, and Oblivion, and secure a suprising victory. In Game 4 on World’s Edge, the Japanese organisation was able to outplay S8UL Esports and Supernova to also claim its second win of the series.
Speaking of S8UL Esports, despite not securing a single win in the first set, it showcased a dominant display in Game 2 with a 13-kill run. In the final ring, S8UL Esports capitalised on the gunfight between Shopify Rebellion and Year 4 champion, GoNext Esports, to take down the two weakened teams and secure a map victory.
In Game 3 of Group A vs C, orgless Indonesian squad Team Mango slipped under the radar to claim its first win in the tournament. Costreamers Jack ‘NiceWigg’ Martin and Athanasios ‘Greek‘ Alestas were at a loss for words in the B-stream as the underdog team outperformed kill leaders Team Falcons and other top teams, such as Alliance.
The second series belonged to the underdogs, though the same could not be said about their larger peers. Many top performers from Year 5 of Apex Legends failed to live up to the hype in the world championship, with some well-known organisations seeing disappointing results after day one.
Fan Favourites Struggle in the Group Stage
There were many fan favourites heading into the ALGS Year 5 Championship based on the results of the Split 2 Pro League. However, throughout the day, some struggled against the international competition.
Shopify Rebellion is a North American powerhouse that was expected to sweep the competition. However, the organisation didn’t have the strongest of starts, finishing 18th in its first game on Storm Point. The best performance from Shopify Rebellion was second place in Game 3 of the first series, which saw the trio secure 16 eliminations.
Another roster that lost its thunder was Gen.G Esports. The new APAC South roster returned to Apex Legends back in 2025 and instantly became a noteworthy team after winning the Split 2 Pro League in the region. There were high expectations for the team as it featured players who previously broke records within the ALGS scene.
Things began as expected, with the roster winning Game 1 in Group A vs D, though everything would then go downhill. From then onwards, Gen.G Esports would rarely break the top 10 teams in both series across ALGS maps E-Disctrict, World’s Edge and Storm Point.
What To Expect Next From ALGS Year 5 Championship
The Group Stage continues on January 16th, 2026, where the final series will be played, featuring Group B vs C and Group A vs D. This will serve as the last chance for teams to secure as many points as possible, which will decide the seedings for the Bracket Stage on January 17th, 2026.
The overall Group Standings see ENTER FORCE.36 top the rankings with 133 points in total.
This is followed by Citadel Gaming(132), Team Falcons (123), and Alliance (100).
On the other hand, top rosters that are falling behind in the ranking include Shopify Rebellion at 20th (65), Gen.G Esports at 27th (58), and Mid-Season Playoffs champions VK Gaming at 34th (49).
The ALGS Year 5 Championship will continue to unfold as teams compete for a place in the Match Point Finals, hoping to secure the lion’s share of a $2m (~£1.48m) prize pool and be crowned the Year 5 champion.
Fans can tune into the event through the official ALGS broadcasts, which are livestreamed on Twitch and YouTube. B-streams also run alongside the official broadcast, hosted by a variety of co-streamers such as NiceWigg.
