The Esports World Cup (EWC) is an annual international esports tournament series run by the Esports Foundation, a nonprofit organization. It is considered the largest professional esports event in the world in terms of total prize pool and number of game titles represented, with upwards of awarded across individual tournament prize pools, rewards for teams that qualify to events, most valuable player awards, and the Club Championship. The 2025 edition featured competitions across more than 25 game titles and 28 club teams. According to the event's organizers, the 2025 event brought together more than 2,500 participants (players and team personnel) from 100 countries.
The tournament takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July to August each year. The 2026 edition was moved to Paris, France.
The Esports World Cup has its origins in Gamers Without Borders (GWB), a charity esports tournament series run by the Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sport (SAFEIS, with esports later being spun off to become the Saudi Esports Federation) that originally supported charities who played a part in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the SEF launched Gamers8, an eight-week gaming and esports festival held in Riyadh's Boulevard City, with Gamers Without Borders serving as a qualifying series in most titles to Gamers8. In 2023, Gamers8 played host to the final FIFAe World Cup held on the FIFA series of video games published by EA Sports, along with introducing the Club Awards, a cross-game competition where the best-performing esport clubs across multiple titles were awarded prize money.
In September 2023, the EWC and its eponymous foundation were formally established by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with the inaugural Esports World Cup held the following year as the successor to Gamers8. The tournament series dramatically increased in scope, with most of the major esports titles present at the event. In addition, the Club Awards were replaced with the Club Championship, a wider cross-game competition that aggregates the individual game results of all participating organizations (known as "clubs" to the EWC) to crown a Club Champion. The inaugural edition was won by Saudi Arabia's Team Falcons. Esport clubs were also given financial incentives via the Club Support Program (later the Club Partner Program).
In 2025, the EWC introduced chess as part of its lineup, with Magnus Carlsen serving as the EWC's official chess ambassador, as part of an enlargement of the series to consist of a + prize pool. The EWC would have a prize pool in 2026.
Background Gamers Without Borders In April 2020, the Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sport (SAFEIS) announced Gamers Without Borders (GWB), a seven-week series of esports tournaments designed to support organizations who were responding to the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The inaugural GWB boasted a prize pool, with participating teams choosing the charities they'd donate their winnings to. Titles present at Gamers Without Borders 2020 included Dota 2, Fortnite, FIFA 20, PUBG Mobile, Rainbow Six Siege and Rocket League, with all competitions played online and most split by region due to travel restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic.
GWB ran its second edition as a standalone event in 2021, also having a prize pool, with donations mainly focusing on the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. This occurred after the esports side of SAFEIS was spun off, with the body becoming the Saudi Esports Federation.
Gamers8 In 2022, the Saudi Esports Federation launched Gamers8, an in-person gaming and esports festival, held in the capital Riyadh's Boulevard City. The inaugural edition, spanning 8 weeks, featured musical performances as well as tournaments in Dota 2 (known as Riyadh Masters), Fortnite, PUBG Mobile. Rainbow Six Siege and Rocket League, with a total prize pool of . Gamers Without Borders returned that year as well, serving as a qualifying series to Gamers8 for its participating titles and still donating to charities.
In September 2022, Saudi Arabia presented the National Gaming and Esports Strategy (NGES), which aims to make the country a global center for the video game industry by 2030 in accordance to Saudi Vision 2030, a strategic plan led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to diversify the Saudi economy, create job opportunities, and reduce reliance on oil. The NGES encompasses 86 initiatives spanning eight focus areas: Technology and hardware development, game production, e-sports, additional services, infrastructure, regulations, education and talent acquisition. The Saudi government's goals include producing more than 30 competitive games in domestic studios, creating more than 39,000 new jobs in the sector, and becoming one of the top three countries by number professional esports players.
Gamers8 returned in 2023, with the subtitle "The Land of Heroes". This edition saw 15 esports titles being contested, with the likes of Tekken 7 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive being added to the festival proper. Most notably, Gamers8 also hosted the 2023 FIFAe World Cup, played on the video game FIFA 23, as well as the FIFAe Nations Cup and FIFAe Club World Cup. The 2023 FIFAe World Cup, won by Dutch gamer Manuel "ManuBachoore" Bachoore, would serve as the final FIFAe World Cup held on the FIFA series of video games published by EA Sports, as football's governing body ended their relationship with EA after the tournaments. Overall, Gamers8 2023 boasted a then-record USD combined prize pool, beating the 2021 iteration of the Dota 2 tournament The International for biggest prize pool in esports history; the Riyadh Masters 2023 Dota tournament offered a prize pool alone.
As part of the prize pool, Gamers8 2023 also introduced the Club Awards, a cross-game competition where teams earned points if they finished in the top 8 of select tournaments contested at the event. In order to qualify for the Club Awards, a team had to score points in two or more eligible tournaments, and only the top 8 of those teams earned prize money. The 2023 Gamers8 Club Awards were won by Saudi Arabian organization Twisted Minds.
Esports World Cup
2024
In accordance with the already existing NGES, Saudi Arabia announced the Esports World Cup in October 2023, as the successor to Gamers8. The announcement came during the Kingdom's "New Global Sport Conference", attended by both senior government officials and leading figures in the sports, gaming, and esports sectors. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated during the announcement that "The Esports World Cup is the natural next step in Saudi Arabia's journey to become the premier global hub for gaming and esports, offering an unmatched esports experience that pushes the boundaries of the industry. The competition will enhance our progress towards realizing the Vision 2030 objectives of diversifying the economy, growing the tourism sector, creating new jobs in various industries, and providing world-class entertainment for citizens, residents, and visitors alike." EWC's operations were transferred from the Saudi Esports Federation to the newly-created Esports World Cup Foundation, a non-profit organization funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
As part of the announcement of the Esports World Cup, it was revealed that the Foundation had purchased the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) branding. While the Esports World Cup briefly used the acronym ESWC after its announcement, it has shifted to use EWC instead, hinting that the acquisition of the ESWC brand was purely to avoid confusion between the two entities.
Like with Gamers8, the Esports World Cup was held in Riyadh's Boulevard City, with most events taking place in a venue that featured four separate esports arenas: the SEF Arena (known as the Qiddiya City Arena for sponsorship purposes), the 5V5 Arena (known as the Amazon Arena for sponsorship purposes), the BR Arena (known as the stc Arena for sponsorship purposes) and the Riyadh Festival. The stc Play Gaming Hall, also in Boulevard City, hosted last chance qualifiers for some games as well as side tournaments for titles like Strinova and Valorant.
The 2024 Esports World Cup featured the then-largest combined prize pool in esports history, as esport teams and organizations competed for a total of (marketed as + and with the tagline "Life changing prize money"). This included the main tournaments, qualifiers, MVP awards and the Club Championship, the successor to the Gamers8 Club Awards. The Club Championship gave out among the top 16 organizations ("clubs") determined by their overall performance in various games throughout the tournament. The same qualifying mechanism from the Club Awards was kept, but the Club Championship was only won by the best organization who had won at least one eligible tournament at EWC. In actuality, due to a tie for 16th place between the organizations FURIA Esports and Weibo Gaming, 17 organizations received prize money from the Club Championship, as any ties below first place were left unresolved and prize money split amongst the tied clubs.
In addition, thirty top esports organizations were paid for their participation in the Esports World Cup via the Club Support Program, an initiative designed to provide substantial financial assistance to these organizations. Through this program, chosen teams received annual financial support to enhance their operations and a one-time cash stimulus to enter esports present at the Esports World Cup. Some have speculated that the stipend to enter new esports was how organizations like Team Vitality entered titles such as StarCraft II and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
A total of 22 tournaments, from 21 titles, were contested as part of the Club Championship. New tournaments included Mobile Legends: Bang Bang'''s Mid Season Cup and Women's Invitational, the Honor of Kings Invitational Midseason and tournaments for League of Legends and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, among others. The Club Championship was won by Saudi organization Team Falcons.
2025
At the conclusion of the 2024 Esports World Cup, it was announced that the 2025 edition would run between July and August of that year, later confirmed to be from July 7 to August 24, 2025, a full week less than both editions of Gamers8 and the inaugural EWC.
A total of 25 Club Championship-eligible tournaments took place during the 2025 Esports World Cup, with only Fortnite not returning from the prior year. The new additions to the Esports World Cup proper include Crossfire and Valorant (as part of a three-year deal with Riot Games), as well as chess; while chess is mainly a physical board game, digital versions such as with Chess.com mean that it is considered an esport by the Esports World Cup Foundation. Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen was appointed as the official chess ambassador of the Esports World Cup when the game was announced to be part of EWC in December 2024. Cristiano Ronaldo was later announced as the EWC's Global Ambassador. The Club Support Program was also expanded to 40 organizations and rebranded as the Club Partner Program, with a total of given out directly to clubs via this mechanism.
This edition of the Esports World Cup expanded its total prize pool to (marketed as +), including MVP awards and qualifying tournaments. Of this, went to the Club Championship. Team Falcons would defend their Club Championship title.
2026
The 2026 Esports World Cup will take place from July 6 to August 23, 2026, keeping the seven week schedule from the prior edition.