CrowdStrike, Google Cloud, Cloudflare grab Round 1 leads: Global Channel Cup

With 48 hours of voting left, here’s where things stand in the opening round of CRN’s Global Channel Cup Tournament

Round 1 of the 2026 Global Channel Cup Tournament, is well underway and the teams are starting to show their mettle.

Let’s take a look at how the matches are shaping up with 48 hours voting left in the opening round.

The closest matchups of the round are taking place in the Transformation region.

Heading into weekend voting, CrowdStrike and Schneider Electric were tied, each with 50 per cent of the vote.

But since then, CrowdStrike has moved ahead with 53 per cent to Schneider Electric’s 47 per cent.

Also in the Transformation region, Google Cloud and AMD seem evenly matched. AMD has a slim lead with 51 per cent of the vote to Google Cloud’s 49 per cent of the vote.

In the Acceleration region, the match between Palo Alto Networks and Cloudflare has gotten feisty.

Palo Alto Networks had the lead heading into weekend voting, but Cloudflare has surged ahead and now has 54 per cent of the vote to Palo Alto Networks’ 46 per cent.

In another lead change, this time in the Innovation region, HP Inc had come out strong early in its match against Sophos, but Sophos is fighting back and now has the lead with 63 per cent of the vote to HP Inc’s 37 per cent.

Here’s a look at the full results so far:

Transformation

Pax8, 57 per cent vs IBM, 43 per cent

CrowdStrike, 53 per cent vs Schneider Electric, 47 per cent

HPE, 79 per cent vs ThreatLocker, 21 per cent

Google Cloud, 49 per cent vs AMD, 51 per cent

Acceleration

Ingram Micro, 72 per cent vs Everpure, 28 per cent

Palo Alto Networks, 46 per cent vs Cloudflare, 54 per cent

AWS, 64 per cent vs Eaton, 36 per cent

Lenovo, 65 per cent vs Nutanix, 35 per cent

Innovation

Microsoft, 79 per cent vs Acer, 21 per cent

HP Inc, 37 per cent vs Sophos, 63 per cent

TD SYNNEX, 56 per cent vs WatchGuard, 44 per cent

Fortinet, 46 per cent vs Intel, 54 per cent

Evolution

Arctic Wolf, 54 per cent vs NetApp, 46 per cent

Dell Technologies, 76 per cent vs Alibaba Cloud, 24 per cent

Cisco, 64 per cent vs CyberPower, 36 per cent

Nvidia, 60 per cent vs OpenText Cybersecurity, 40 per cent

Voting in Round 1 remains open until 5pm BST on Wednesday, 1 July, so there’s still time to head to CRN.com/channelcup to cast your votes and choose your champion!

This article originally appeared on CRN UK sister website CRN.