Organizer
Historical name used by the organizer during the second edition.
Competition
2025 Esports World Cup
The second Esports World Cup ran in Riyadh from July 7 to August 24, 2025, with 2,000 players and 200 clubs competing in 25 tournaments across 24 games. Team Falcons retained the Club Championship.
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Updated September 2, 2026Competition snapshot
Host and dates
Riyadh · Saudi Arabia · Jul 7–Aug 24[1]
Seven-week competition and festival at Boulevard City.
Champion
Back-to-back champion with 5
Combined prize pool
$71.5M[2]
Final combined allocation; the organizer promoted the program as $70M+.
Games
25 tournaments · 24 games[1]
Expanded with VALORANT
Participant scale
2,000+ players · 200 clubs[1]
Competitors represented 100 countries according to the organizer.
CategoryPartnerCommercial note
Category
Organizer
Partner
Esports World Cup FoundationCommercial note
Event owner and organizer under its name at the time · Recorded in the 2025 edition.[1]
Category
Operating partner
Partner
ESL FACEIT GroupCommercial note
Tournament operations and broadcast programming under a multi-year agreement · Recorded in the 2025 edition.[12]
Category
Airline and travel
Partner
SaudiaCommercial note
Official airline partner · Recorded in the 2025 edition.[13]
Reach & distribution
Audience
Editions
Compare the expanded second edition with the 2024 baseline and the first international edition in Paris in 2026.
| Edition | Host | Dates | Prize pool | Games | Champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Paris, France | Jul 2, 2026 – Aug 23, 2026 | $75M | 24 | AG.AL |
| 2025Current page | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Jul 7, 2025 – Aug 24, 2025 | $71.5M | 24 | Team Falcons |
| 2024 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Jul 3, 2024 – Aug 25, 2024 | $62.5M | 22 | Team Falcons |
PTG Database Analysis
The 2025 edition demonstrated that the EWC could expand both inventory and audience without changing its core cross-game proposition. The program grew to 25 tournaments across 24 games, while the Club Championship pool rose from $20 million to $27 million and paid the top 24 clubs.[1][2]
For commercial users, the more material change was distribution. The organizer reported 750 million viewers, 350 million hours watched, 7.98 million peak viewers and 3 million on-site visits, alongside 7,000 hours of live production across more than 800 channels and 97 broadcast partners. These are organizer-reported totals and should be evaluated separately from third-party title-level measurement.[1]
Team Falcons retained the title with 5,200 points, but the final-week contest was closer than in 2024. Team Liquid reached 4,200 and Team Vitality 4,050, showing how publisher access, roster breadth and consistent top-eight finishes shaped the value of the club-wide format.[1][3]
References13
- [1]Team Falcons Crowned Esports World Cup 2025 Club Champions After Seven Weeks of Record-Breaking Competition — Esports World Cup Foundation
- [2]2025 Esports World Cup — Wikipedia
- [3]Team Falcons wins Esports World Cup Club Championship — Esports Insider
- [4]EWC 2026 Media Guide — Esports World Cup
- [5]Inside EWC's Eight-Week Move to Paris: Mike McCabe on Going Global — Press The Game
- [6]AG.AL Crowned Esports World Cup 2026 Club Champion After Landmark Competition in Paris — Esports World Cup
- [7]2026 Esports World Cup — Wikipedia
- [8]Esports World Cup crowns champions in Paris after move from Riyadh — Euronews
- [9]Esports World Cup official retrospective — Esports World Cup
- [10]2024 Esports World Cup — Wikipedia
- [11]L'Arabie saoudite, organisatrice et grande gagnante de l'Esports World Cup — Le Monde
- [12]ESL FACEIT Group — Relationship evidence
- [13]Esports World Cup — Relationship evidence
Commercial opportunities
Master-brand integration
Competition-wide positioning across EWC, the Club Championship and owned channels.[1]
Venue and travel activation
Airline, arena, hospitality and destination touchpoints around the Riyadh host program.[1]
Game and publisher package
Title-specific audience access through one of 25 tournaments and its wider circuit.[1]
Content and creator distribution
Broadcast segments, co-streaming, talent, documentary and social formats across multiple languages.[1]
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