EWC 2025 Week 1 Recap: Rennsport, VALORANT, Apex Legends, and Fatal Fury winners

The Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025 is in full swing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (July 8 to August 24). Backed by Saudi Arabia’s Esports World Cup Foundation (PIF) and ESL FACEIT, its second edition features a historic $70.45 million prize pool, the largest ever in esports.

The ambitious format combines 26 tournaments across 25 games, with returning staples like Dota 2, PUBG, and fighting games, along with welcoming new titles: VALORANT, Chess, CrossFire, Fatal Fury, and Black Ops 6. Over $38 million rewards individual game champions, with $27 million spread for the best organisations in the Club Championship.

Drawing 2,000+ elite players and 200 clubs from over 100 countries, this event continues to redefine global esports through its massive scale. There are many games to watch throughout the event, so let’s start with the winners of the first week.

BMW M Team Redline, featuring Luke Bennett, Sebastian Job, Jeffrey Rietveld, and Kevin Siggy, orchestrated a commanding title defence at the Rennsport R1 Major during the first week of EWC 2025, defending its team championship from the last World Cup. A month before, BMW  took its sim racers for a vacation in the Austrian Alps to prepare them “physically, mentally, and emotionally” for the upcoming World Cup.

The four‑day sim‑racing showdown featured nine elite squads fighting for their share of the $500,000 prize pool. Redline topped their group stages then surged through the playoffs, entering Finalist Mode after six races. 

Virtus.pro and Team Vitality put up a close race, but weren’t able to stop Redline from reaching the finish line. Porsche Coanda, the number one-seeded team, fell short of the final three.

Rennsport’s EWC debut attracted 188,480 hours watched, the second most popular ever for the discipline, with a peak of 9,482 concurrent viewers during race six of the finals. 

Team Heretics’ triumph at the EWC 2025 VALORANT tournament in Riyadh was nothing short of cinematic: a dramatic reverse sweep in a high-stakes final against Fnatic. Fnatic won the first two maps in Lotus and Sunset, demoralising them with scorelines 13-4 and 13-1. 

Their dominance was shaping up for a quick and clean sweep, a win Fnatic needed after their second-place finish in the VCT Toronto. Fnatic has eliminated the recent Masters winners, Paper Rex, and is about to take the momentum into the grand finals.

However, Heretics clawed back the win in Icebox, finishing the map 13-11 thanks to key clutches from Boo and an ace from Wo0t. On map 4 in Haven, Fnatic finished the half 9:3, and it looked like the end. However, Heretic’s attacking side went on a seven-round win streak despite Fnatic’s double Sentinel comp.

Ascent was the battleground of their fifth of final map of EWC. Both teams were pulling out clutch after clutch, until Heretic finally won everything 13-10. Heretic’s Wo0t earned the much-deserved MVP award for his performance. 

The achievement marks Heretics’ first-ever international VALORANT championship and completes a redemption arc following previous Grand Final losses against Fnatic. The VALORANT Grand Finals at EWC peaked at approximately 451,943 concurrent viewers, with many factors explaining its lower viewership, such as co-streamers avoiding the event.

VK Gaming’s sneaky performance at the ALGS Midseason Playoffs during the Esports World Cup surprised everyone. The Chinese squad, largely overlooked pre-event, emerged victorious in a tense Match Point Format against a stacked field of 40 teams.

ALGS Midseason Playoffs veered away from its usual format of group stages and split the teams into two pools. The top seven teams of each group advance to the finals, joined by the top six from the Last Chance Qualifier, forming the final 20 contenders.

VK Gaming claimed game one on E-District with a powerful position overlooking a cramped circle. ROC Esports answered by winning game two and game four, while 100 Thieves took game three. Ninjas in Pajamas won game five, but ROC earned enough points to put themselves in a match point. 

TSM took over game six with Falcons taking their second runner-up finish. Additionally, this puts VK Gaming and Ninjas in Pajamas at match point. Wolves Esports takes game seven, denying NiP to win the championship. Team Falcons finish the game with match point eligibility.

VK Gaming and ROC Esports both fall short in game eight as Gen.G Esports come out of the scrap as the winners. Wolves Esports and 100 Thieves enter the next game with match point. Finally, VK Gaming clinched the title in a tense final circle showdown against Wolves Esports and Sentinels. Their victory is the first global Apex Legends title for a Chinese team.

VK Gaming’s QQ takes a special award as Sony’s MVP for his efforts. Viewership peaked at approximately 219,800 viewers during the winning game of the series. Last year’s winners, Alliance, failed to earn enough points for match points during the finals.

This landmark win earned VK Gaming the $600,000 top prize, but also vaulted them into the ALGS Championship qualifying mix: 3,000 Championship Points, 1,000 EWC Club Points, and nearly 5,820 circuit points overall. 

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is the newest game in EWC, launched in late April 2025, but many FGC legends were present during the event. Xiao Hai, considered to be the greatest King of Fighters player of all time, is a four-time EVO champion and recently won two Fatal Fury events. Other decorated EVO champions like E.T., Fenritti, and GO1 made this a stacked competition.

GO1 (Goichi Kishida), representing Japan’s DetonatioN FocusMe, emerged as the champion after a five-match Grand Final against Chinese veteran Xiaohai. Xiao Hai’s Billy and GO1’s Kain exchanged wins and losses in an even series. However, GO1 read his opponent better and won three straight games in a row to take the tournament. 

The Grand Final peaked at around 60,529 peak viewers, marking it as one of Fatal Fury’s most popular competitive events. GO1 earned a reputation as one of the greatest multi-game fighting game competitors ever, reaching the finals of four distinct official World Tour circuits and emerging victorious in two of those championship events, and this win at EWC cements his status.

Dota 2 opens at EWC 2025, featuring 16 competitive teams battling through three phases over two weeks. In Riyadh Masters 2024, Gaimin Gladiators won against Team Liquid and have failed to find success since then, especially after key members left the group. Dota esports has seen a competitive year in 2025, with different teams winning notable events, and right now, any squad has a chance to win it.

Four groups of four teams competed in double‑round robin Bo2s, with Team Spirit, BetBoom Team, Aurora Gaming, and Team Liquid emerging undefeated atop their respective groups. All top teams finished 2‑1‑0 with 5‑1 match records.

Following the group phase, the tournament shifted into an elimination bracket in best‑of‑three showdowns. After the dust settled, PARIVISION, Gaimin Gladiators, Tundra Esports, and Team Falcons advanced to the playoffs, with all teams scoring a decisive 2-0 against their opponents.

The final eight teams in the playoffs are mostly European and CIS rosters, as other regions failed to make the cut. Dota 2 continues in EWC week 2 with a single elimination Bo3 matchup, concluding with a Bo5 grand final.

Next week, the opening matches are Team Spirit vs Gaimin Gladiators, Aurora Gaming vs PARIVISION, BetBoom Team vs. Tundra Esports, and Team Liquid vs Team Falcons.

Here’s what to expect in Week 2 of EWC 2025 (July 15–20 in Riyadh):

Tune in to ESI next week for our EWC Week 2 Recap covering these events and storylines.