The Esports World Convention (ESWC; known as the Electronic Sports World Cup until early 2016) was an international professional gaming championship. Every year, winners of national qualifier events around the world earned the right to represent their country in the ESWC Finals.
The ESWC was originally created by a French company, Ligarena, that had previously hosted smaller local area network (LAN) events in France under the name of LAN Arena. In 2003, Ligarena decided to do something on a larger scale and the ESWC was born. In 2005, Ligarena became Games-Services.
In 2009, ESWC was bought by another French company, Games-Solution, which became the owner of the brand.
In 2012, Oxent, an agency specialising in electronic sports, acquired the ESWC.
The grand finals and masters of ESWC have had a total prize purse of €1,721,000 between 2003 and 2010.
In October 2023, the ESWC brand was acquired by the Esports World Cup Foundation.
Overview The first Electronic Sports World Cup was held in 2003 with a total of 358 participants from 37 countries and a prize purse of €150,000. To participate in the tournament, competitors had to place in their country's national qualifier. By 2006, the event had grown to 547 qualified participants from 53 countries and had a prize purse of $400,000 US. The event also featured the first competition with a game specifically made for it: TrackMania Nations.
Championships 2003 The 2003 ESWC saw around 150,000 players narrowed down to just 358 players, from 37 different countries, who attended the finals at the Futuroscope near Poitiers in France. The total prize fund for the event was €156,000.
2003 4th Counter-Strike team9 zEx SK Gaming* GoodGame Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Alborz "HeMaN" Haidarian Fredrik "MaDFroG" Johansson Antoine "FaTC" Zadri Yoan "ToD" Merlo Unreal Tournament 2003 Christian "GitzZz" Hoeck Björn "zulg" Sunesson Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendell Aaron "Lotus" Everitt Quake 3 Anton "Cooller" Singov John "ZeRo4" Hill Alexey "LeXeR" Nesterov Pelle "fazz" Söderman Counter-Strike Female SK Gaming Femina Bellica Denmark Girls To Hell Angels
SK Gaming representing Sweden in the Counter-Strike competition
2004 The 2004 finals were once again held at the Futuroscope. Roughly 400 finalists, from 41 countries, attended to compete for a €210,000 prize purse.
2004 4th Counter-Strike Titans spiXel Virtus.pro The Stomping Grounds Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Dae Hui "FoV" Cho Fredrik "MaDFroG" Johansson Alborz "HeMaN" Haidarian Chun "Sweet" Jung Hee Unreal Tournament 2004 Maurice "BurningDeath" Engelhardt Christian "GitzZz" Hoeck Laurens "Lauke" Pluijmakers Nicola "Forrest" Geretti Quake 3 Sweden United States Russia Belarus Counter-Strike Female || Team all 4 one || Ladies.AMD || New4|eibo || Les Seules |- | style="text-align:center" | Pro Evolution Soccer 3 Samad "Samsam" Baism Marcel "Xside" Waulke Chen Zhiliang Wang Zaoxing Painkiller Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager Alessandro "Stermy" Avallone Michael "Dr.Moerser" Froese Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendell
2005 In 2005, the venue was moved to a larger facility: The Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. The total prize payout was again raised – this time to €300,000.
2005 4th Counter-Strike compLexity SK Gaming* Mousesports Lunatic-hai Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen Andrey "Deadman" Sobolev Seo Woo "ReiGn" Kang Li "Sky" Xiaofeng Unreal Tournament 2004 Michael "winz" Bignet Markus "Falcon" Holzer Laurens "Lauke" Pluijmakers Michele "DevilMC" Esposito Quake 3 Anton "Cooller" Singov Paul "czm" Nelson Magnus "fojji" Olsson Jason "socrates" Sylka Counter-Strike Female Girls Got Game Ladies.AMD x6tence.AMD Beat off The Best Pro Evolution Soccer 4 Badr "ArabianJoker" Hakeem Mike "Mike" Moreton Raúl "Legre" Alegre "Zhao_Hang" Gran Turismo 4 Pierre "Snake" Lenoire Thibault "Carter" Lacombe Arnaud "Lucky" Lacombe Jean-Philippe "Phenicks" Lacombe
*SK-Gaming's, secondary, Danish squad
2006
The 2006 event took place at the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy and the total prize payout was approximately €300,000.
2006 4th Counter-Strike Made in Brazil fnatic aTTaX Team3D Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Jae Wook "Lucifer" Noh Ivica "Zeus" Markovic Li "Sky" Xiaofeng Zdravko "Insomnia" Georgiev Quake 4 Michael "winz" Bignet Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky Ivo "Forever" Lindhout Anton "Cooller" Singov Counter-Strike Female || Beat off the Best || Les Seules || Hacker Victory || SK Gaming* |- | style="text-align:center" | Pro Evolution Soccer 5 Bruce "Spank" Grannec Moustafa "Myto" Menadi Yasin "Jinxy" Koroglu Song "Song" Xianzhi Gran Turismo 4 Pierre "Snake" Lenoire Thibault "Carter" Lacombe Arnaud "Lucky" Lacombe Daniel "Holl01" Holland Trackmania Nations Dorian "Carl" Vallet Manuel "Baiy000r" Baier Pascal "gaLLo" Jäger Adrien "Dridrione" Auxent
SK Gaming representing USA in Counter-Strike female
2007 The 2007 ESWC took place at the Paris expo Porte de Versailles, Paris, from July 5 to July 8. There was a complete expo for this event, called "Mondial du Gaming" (World of Gaming).
750 finalists, from 51 countries, competed for a prize purse of $180,000 US.
2007 4th Counter-Strike PGS.PokerStrategy.com Team NoA fnatic * Made in Brazil Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Lee Sung "SoJu" Duk Olav "Creolophus" Undheim Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen Jun "Lyn" Park Quake 4 Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski Anton "Cooller" Singov Michael "winz" Bignet Mikael "PURRI" Tarvainen Counter-Strike Female || SK Gaming ** || EHONOR || Be The Best || Unfinished |- | style="text-align:center" | Pro Evolution Soccer 6 Sven "S-Butcher" Wehmeier Bruce "Spank" Grannec Mike "El Matador" Linden Almeida "Bubaloo" Jorge Trackmania Nations Freek "XenoGear" Molema Dorian "Carl" Vallet Simon "Lign" Ferreira Charles "selrahc37" Devillard
2008 Leaving France for the first time, the 2008 Electronic Sports World Cup took place in San Jose, California, USA, from August 25 to August 27 during the bigger "NVISION 08" event. The disciplines announced were: Counter-Strike (open and female), Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Trackmania Nations Forever, Defense of the Ancients and, Quake 3. Pro Evolution Soccer was not included because the global Konami authority had not given its support to the competition. The prize purse was approximately $200,000 US.
2008 4th Counter-Strike PGS.MYM (NEO, TaZ) eSTRO fnatic Mousesports Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Du-Seop "WhO" Chang Li "Sky" Xiaofeng Zhuo "TeD" Zeng Seo Woo "ReiGn" Kang Quake 3 Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky Marcel 'K1llsen' Paul Shane "Rapha" Hendrixson Fan "Jibo" Zhibo Counter-Strike Female|| SK Gaming || emuLate || EHonor || MeetYourMakers |- | style="text-align:center" | Trackmania Nations Kalle "Frostbeule" Moertlund Videkull Freek "XenoGear" Molema Simon "Lign" Ferreira Dorian "Carl" Vallet Defense of the Ancients Zenith KingSurf MeetYourMakers Evil Geniuses
Masters of Paris In place of the ESWC, the "Masters of Paris" was held from July 4 to July 6, during the "Mondial du Gaming", taking place at the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy. The same disciplines took place during this Masters and offered additional qualifying slots for ESWC Grand Final in San Jose. All winners won a slot to participate in the ESWC Grand Final, and hotel accommodation in San Jose, free of charge.
2008 Masters of Paris 4th Counter-Strike Mortal Teamwork fnatic Mousesports Roccat Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Jae Ho "Moon" Jang Li "Sky" Xiaofeng Yoan "ToD" Merlo Du-Seop "WhO" Chang Quake 3 Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky Magnus "fox" Olsson Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski Fan "Jibo" Zhibo Counter-Strike Female|| Les Seules || SK Gaming || Emulate || forZe |- | style="text-align:center" | Trackmania Nations Simon "Lign" Ferreira Freek "XenoGear" Molema Kalle "Frostbeule" Mörtlund Videkull Pedro "Moriah" Benjamin Defense of the Ancients SK Gaming The Elder Gods MeetYourMakers Evil Geniuses
Masters of Athens "Masters of Athens" was held from October 17 to October 18, 2008, during the Athens Digital Week. Disciplines featured were Quake III and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The tournament had a $30.000 prize purse, and the champion qualified for ESWC 2009. 2008 Masters of Athens 4th Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne June "Lyn" Park Jae Ho "Moon" Jang Yoan "ToD" Merlo Du-Seop "WhO" Chang Quake 3 Shane "Rapha" Hendrixson Sebastian "Spart1e" Siira Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky
2009
Masters of Cheonan Venue: Cheonan, South Korea Prize: €54,000 Date: 2–6 May 2009
2009 Masters of Cheonan 4th Counter-Strike fnatic SK-Gaming Mousesports Alchemists Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Pedro "LucifroN" Moreno Durán Park "Lyn" June Lu "Fly100%" Weiliang Dmitriy "Happy" Kostin StarCraft: Brood War Gregory "IdrA" Fields Oleksii "White-Ra" Krupnik Seo "ToSsGirL" Ji-Soo Zhang"Super" Minglu Special Force ITBANK Razer eSTRO ITBANK teenager Razer END FIFA Online 2 Kim Jung-Min Lee Woo-Young Yang Jin-Mo
2010
The 2010 "Electronic Sports World Cup", which took place at Disneyland Paris, featured a €213,500 prize purse. Games Solution (or DIP-Organisation) took over the ESWC in 2010.
2010 4th Counter-Strike Natus Vincere SK Gaming mortal Team work Frag eXecutors Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne June "Lyn" Park Jae Ho "Moon" Jang Sung sik "ReMinD" Kim Happy Quake Live Rapha av3k Anton "Cooller" Singov Dahang Counter-Strike Female|| SK Gaming || fnatic || Millenium || Mousesports |- | style="text-align:center" | TrackMania Bergie Moria YoYo Carl Defense of the Ancients EHOME DTS MeetYourMakers Nirvana FIFA 10 Anas "Astank" Sofi Pires Andrei Francisco "Quinzas" Cruz Need for Speed: Shift Steffan Husky Sliver lecho Super Street Fighter IV Justin Wong Marn Olivier "Luffy" Hay Sun Woo "Infiltration" Lee Guitar Hero 5 Banobi CNB.Luckysonic vVv Smokyprogg kyu hwan "TeamTest" Han
2011 This event marked the transitional replacement and additions of several cornerstone tournament titles. This included the replacement of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne with StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, as well as the replacement of Defense of the Ancients with Dota 2. Additionally, this event marked the first and only year in which Counter-Strike: Source was present. It was also the last year that would include Counter-Strike 1.6, which was the main attraction of the tournament for many years, and the last remaining game that had been featured in the inaugural ESWC event. Date : From October 20 to October 25, 2011 Venue : Paris Games Week, Porte de Versailles, Paris, France Production : Photos | Videos
2011 4th StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Ilyes "Stephano" Satouri Grzegorz "MaNa" Komincz Jung-Hoon "MarineKing" Lee Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen Counter-Strike SK Gaming Natus Vincere Mousesports AGAiN Counter-Strike Female|| UBINITED || Millenium || Moscow Five || Gamerhouse |- | style="text-align:center" | Counter-Strike: Source Team VeryGames (Ex6TenZ, NBK, RpK, shox, SmithZz) CKRAS Gaming (3k2, cajun, FeTiSh, h0lm, wantz) CheckSix Gaming (DaZeD, frozt, neiL, Steel, tck) Team Dynamic (adreN, ANGER, AZK, Legend, PEX) TrackMania Forever Erik "hakkiJunior" Leštach Marek "tween" Pacher Yoann "YoYo" Cook Tim "Spam" Lunenburg Dota 2 Natus Vincere EHOME GamersLeague monkeybusiness FIFA 11 Adrien "Aquino" Viaud Rafael "Ralfitita" Riobó Sánchez Francisco "Quinzas" Cruz Koen "k0entj92" Weijland
2012 Date : From October 30 to November 4, 2012 Venue : Paris Games Week, Porte de Versailles, Paris, France Official disciplines : Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on PC (5v5), Shootmania Storm on PC (3v3), Call of Duty Black Ops 2 on Xbox 360 (4v4), Dota 2 on PC (5v5), FIFA 14 on Xbox 360 (1v1), Trackmania² Stadium on PC (1v4) Production : Photos | Videos