2026 Rocket League Esports World Cup slot distribution and format revealed

The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) has officially announced the details of the upcoming 2026 Rocket League Esports World Cup (EWC) tournament.

Taking place from August 12th to August 16th, the tournament will feature a total of 16 teams competing for a major share of the $1m (~£736,905) prize pool, although the exact distribution has yet to be revealed.

The tournament organiser also unveiled the format that will be used during the five-day event. The 16 teams will first be split into two groups of eight, competing in a double-elimination bracket. Matches will be best-of-five for the majority, except for elimination series, which will be best-of-seven.

The top four teams from each group will then advance to the Playoffs stage, featuring a single-elimination bracket with all matches being best-of-seven. The exact match schedule will be announced at a later date.

EWCF also announced the allocated slots for each region that will determine the participating teams. The only confirmed team for now is the French squad Karmine Corp (KC), which received a direct invite as the defending champion.

Three more European teams will join KC in the action later this summer, based on the RLCS rankings. Teams earn points for the standings based on the results of the online qualifiers ahead of the Majors, which will take place in Boston and Paris this year.

In particular, the Rocket League Boston Major will begin on February 19th, with the champion to be crowned on Sunday, February 22th.

The regional slots for the Rocket League EWC have been allocated as follows:

One additional slot will be given to the winner of the EWC Last Chance Qualifier. The schedule and format of the LCQ have yet to be revealed.

The 2026 Esports World Cup will run from July 6th to August 23rd and will have a combined prize pool of $75m (~£55.6m).