Elevate and Al-Ula fall to Q9 at CODM Spring Major 2026

Q9 kept the CODM crown in China, and the Philippines left Shanghai one step short after Elevate finished third and Al-Ula finished second at a Spring Major that ran from March 12 to May 10 and carried a ¥2.2 million prize pool across 14 teams. The lower-bracket semifinals and grand finals were played at Shanghai KPL Esports Center, and Q9 closed the event by beating Al-Ula 4-1 in the grand final.

For Filipino fans, the sting is bigger than a podium miss. Elevate is a U.S.-based organization fielding a Philippines team, while Al-Ula is a Saudi Arabian club-owned roster built around Filipino players for this event. That meant the Philippines had real skin in the fight through more than one lineup, and both of those lineups still ran into the same wall when the bracket tightened. Elevate had already beaten Q9 on May 8 to lock up its return to the global stage in China, but the rematch in the offline finals told a different story.

That is the clearest answer to why the title slipped away: Q9 handled the tournament’s LAN pressure and late-bracket adaptation better than anyone else. Qing Jiu Club, founded in 2011 and in Call of Duty: Mobile since 2019, is not just another strong Chinese side. Liquipedia lists it as the first team to win three CDM titles and a World Championship in 2025, and that pedigree showed once the event moved into its final offline rounds. The Philippines had the firepower to push Q9 earlier, but Q9 had the depth and stage experience to win when the format stopped forgiving mistakes.

That matters because the 2026 CODM season is built around Solo Qualifier, Team Qualifier, WCPS points, Summer Split, Fall Split, and the World Championship Finals. The Spring Major was not just another stop on the calendar, it was the first major read on who can actually survive the new cycle. China still looks like the benchmark region, and Q9’s title says the bar is not moving down anytime soon.

For the Philippines, the hard lesson from Shanghai is simple: getting close to Q9 is not the same as outlasting Q9 when the stage lights come on.