With the exciting Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) 2026 getting started before 2025 even comes to an end, it was awesome to follow all the RLCS 2026 Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Open 1 action. In case you've missed it, here's how things went down.

Pioneers win RLCS 2026 SSA Open 1

With 32 qualified teams competing for their share of the $32,100 prize pool (roughly R546,000) and a heap of RLCS Points, sparks flew right from the start.

In the Swiss Stage of Group A, "no name team" and "Looking for Organization" topped with 3-0 scores, while in Group B, Pioneers and CosmiCo Esports went undefeated. At the end of the Swiss Stage and the Group Stage, only eight teams remained.

Competing in the Playoffs Stage, featuring best-of-seven matches throughout, it was Pioneers who dominated. Pioneers first smashed CosmiCo Esports with a 4-0, and took care of business against Looking for Organization with a 4-2 victory.

In the Grand Final of the RLCS 2026 SSA Open 1 event, Five Fears got off to a fantastic start, going up 2-0. However, Pioneers showed their big-match temperament, clawing their way back to a nailbiting 4-3 victory to claim the title of RLCS 2026 SSA Open 1 champions. Congratulations!

Check out the complete championship Sunday video from the RLCS 2026 SSA Open 1 tournament via the ACGL Alpha Twitch channel right now!

For those who love following South African teams, it's worth noting that Limitless ceased operations on 8 September 2025. However, two former Limitless players are competing under the Pioneers banner, which won the RLCS 2026 SSA Open 1.

The Pioneers roster consists of:

• David "2Die4" Morgenrood (South African)
• Joshua "Sweaty" Kleynhans (South African)
• Luis "LuiisP" Puente Peña (Spanish)

The Pioneers coach is American Adam "Lawler" Thornton.

RLCS 2026 SSA Open 1 Final Standings

Below, you can check out the final standings and prize pool distribution for the RLCS 2026 SSA Open 1 tournament.

PlaceParticipant(s)Prize (USD)RLCS Points1stPioneers$6,600152ndFive Fears$3,600103rd-4thLooking for Organization, CosmiCo Esports$2,40075th-6thDeath Cloud Esports, Synthesis$1,65057th-8thTeam 10, The Punishers$1,20039th-12thOx Gaming, ROUNDS, Team HSK, Unity$1,050213th-16thWhite Rabbit Gaming, Astronic Esports, Nkandla Style, spanish pap en wors$600117th-22ndCristobal Colon, Les NewGens, Fennec OF, Jopie, Palopes, THE µWAVE$300-23rd-28th1664, Playstation better, Bingo at the unction, Mzansi Magicians, Chrome Esports, CDV Wolves (Curro Durbanville High)$300-29th-32ndWishy Washy Windows, Ax3, Project Zero, Akimbo Esports$300-

For those interested in competing, navigate to the relevant Start.gg pages to register your team for the SSA RLCS 2026 Open 2 and SSA RLCS 2026 Open 3 events. While you are at it, join the Rocket League Esports SSA Discord channel.

You can watch all the action via the upcoming ACGL_Alpha Twitch channel.

Header image via Epic Games.