Red Bull Wololo turns Royal Albert Hall into esports paradise

14 April 2026

For many people, April 1st equals April Fools’ Day, but at Red Bull, there was no time for April pranks this year. Instead, they organised one of the biggest UK esports of the year and definitely one of the most unique esports events of the year. Right in the middle of London, and in collaboration with experience agency We Are Collider, Red Bull organised Red Bull Wololo 2026 across several London venues, including an unbelievable final at the world-famous Royal Albert Hall. In this article, we are looking back at what can probably be considered the premier 1v1 Age of Empires competition in the world.

Red Bull Wololo 2026

The official name of the event in London was Red Bull Wololo Londinium World’s Edge, though it is mostly referred to as simply Red Bull Wololo 2026. The tournament was hosted by the Austrian energy drink producer in collaboration with We Are Collider and ran from Thursday, April 1st to Sunday, April 6th. The selected title for the event was naturally The Last Chieftains, the tenth expansion of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Red Bull Wololo 2026 gathered the eight best professional and amateur players in the world to compete for a $ 170.000 prize, which comes down to about £ 126.336.

“It’s not easy to deliver on a ‘make it even bigger and better’ brief when the previous events have already pushed the envelope”, said Anton Jerges, CEO and founder at We Are Collider, after Red Bull Wololo 2026, “But we love a challenge and relished the opportunity to turn this year’s Wololo into a hybrid cultural moment that saw gaming enter establishment institutions like the Royal Albert Hall. There’s something very magical about mixing different worlds while retaining gaming authenticity.”

London all the way

In order to create a unique atmosphere and underline the Red Bull Wololo’s reputation as one of the major events of the year for esports in the UK, We Are Collider came up with a narrative theme for the 2026 edition. Every part of the tournament was reimagined as a nautical voyage in the style of a Roman journey to Londinium, including the player uniforms.
That was far from all though, as the organisers were also set to make the most of the historic location for their event, London. The Group Stage, for example, was played from April 1st to April 3rd at White Rabbit Studio in Shoreditch, followed by the Playoffs at Leicester Square’s Luxe Cinema, home of the British film premiere. Red Bulls offices in Soho doubled as player lounges in support of the event.

The Royal Albert Hall

The pièce de resistance, though, the masterpiece of Red Bull Wololo 2026 so to say, was the Final. Not only because two of the favourites, Hamzah “Hera” El-Baher and Kai “Lierrey” Kallinger, faced off to decide the champion (Hera won 5-3), but because of the venue as well. That is because Red Bull and We Are Collider organised the Final at the iconic Royal Albert Hall, where a sell-out crowd not only witnessed a fantastic Red Bull Wololo 2026 final, but also a bespoke rearrangement of the Age of Empires soundtrack, brought to them by a  63-piece orchestra that included a 9,999 pipe organ.