The road to Berlin is on in Europe, as eight teams line up for Stage 3's first Challengers Main Event in Europe after the bracket narrowed in the closed qualifier.

The Fnatic squad fist bump each other after winning a match in Reykjavik Although G2 sent them to the lower bracket, Fnatic are still here to fight for Berlin (Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff for Riot Games)

The Champions Tour recommenced on June 28, as over 300 teams were slowly whittled down to just eight. Three intense days of qualifying saw the abrupt exit of Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius and Megastitut Megastitut Inactive Goaster Tony Richard sh1n Ryad Ensaad iDex Sammy Van de Weghe KONEQT Cista Adel MARCTYLINHO Marcty Bienvenu , falling at the hands of BK ROG Esports BK ROG Esports Inactive b2kk Sofian Delimi Kinguyen Nguyen Thach NeskaaS Sohan Bessassa Aegis Nguyen Thien dathuaaN Nguyen Thuan and Team Sampi Team Sampi Inactive Ayyzicle MACHYY1 Daniel Machalíček Hasaa Radim Haša Ambi Štěpán Beránek Pjotr Petr Janiš Rias René Pitrun in the top 64 and top 32, respectively. OG OG Inactive KONEQT Cista Adel uNKOE Benjamin Chevasson OniBy Theo Tarlier fxy0 Joey Schlosser LaAw Mathieu Plantin were also knocked out in the top 32, by Finest Finest Inactive DESTRUCT1VEE Hakan Lekesizer Kicks Kimmie Laasner bonkar Malkolm Rench .

More surprises came in the Closed Qualifier. Although most teams that were expected to win their opening games did so, two games stood out. Alliance Alliance Inactive managed to send Ninjas in Pyjamas Ninjas in Pyjamas Inactive dimasick Dmitriy Matvienko chiwa Egor Stepanyuk Jady Yaroslav Nikolaev rhyme Emir Muminovic to the lower bracket in a 70-round marathon across three maps. The renewed G2 Esports G2 Esports Inactive also defeated Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #9 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso in a similarly long series that saw G2 come out on top.

The first teams qualified on the second day, in which there were three major upsets across the board. After losing their two previous matches, Guild Esports Guild Esports Inactive managed to finally secure a win over FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks on the third map. G2, who had a very distinct Stage 2 run when compared to FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder , scored a major upset against the current #3 team in Europe, taking them in a 2-0 victory. Moving to the lower bracket, it was Finest Finest Inactive DESTRUCT1VEE Hakan Lekesizer Kicks Kimmie Laasner bonkar Malkolm Rench 's turn to score an upset, sweeping NiP in a match where the ninjas only managed 15 rounds across two maps.

The last day of the closed qualifier saw four more teams secure slots in the Main Event. Fnatic outlasted Wave Esports Wave Esports Inactive SimonD4rk Alexandr Skovbel Click Haydem Ali Saiz Daniel Ruiz in a match that went the distance that begun with a 13-1 for the orange side on Icebox. All the while, Rix.GG Thunder Rix.GG Thunder Inactive Mickebwoy Mikołaj Chojnacki memset Laurent Werly LATEKS Oliwer Fahlander frei Aaron Frei Luzuh Joseph Loose were busy scoring a major upset against Alliance. They stole the first map 14-12 and then lost Bind, but the Englishmen were unstoppable on their way to 13-4 win on Haven, sealing their slot in the Main Event.

BDS then followed up in earning their spot, redeeming their 2-0 loss at the hands of Acend Acend Inactive ALIVE Gilad Hakim musashi Alessio Xhaferi pyrolll Artur Minin cullumx Nikolaj Cullum Andersen chiwa Egor Stepanyuk in the upper bracket. The Frenchmen showed up strong against Finest, just stopping a comeback on Icebox to snatch their spot in the Main Event. Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #9 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso put up a tough fight facing FPX, but fell in Icebox on overtime, knocking them out of contention for the Main Event.

The Stage 3: Challengers 1 Main Event has its first games scheduled for July 7, yet to be revealed. The top four teams will earn a spot at the Stage 3: EMEA Challengers Playoffs, where they'll fight for one of four slots at Masters Berlin.

The complete team list is: