What is the Esports World Cup? Full schedule, games, prize pool & more

The world’s largest esports event is back again for a second year in a row, bigger, better, and bolder than ever. The Esports World Cup 2025 begins on July 8, running for eight weeks of nonstop action until August 24. 

The best esports organisations in the scene will be jetting off to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to compete across multiple major titles like League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2, and even chess. They’re battling not only for bragging rights but for crucial Club Championship points that determine the overall champion and a slice of the massive prize pool. If you’re interested in learning more about this elite international tournament, Esports Insider has got all the details.

The Esports World Cup (EWC) is a multi-game esports festival held annually in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, hosted by the Saudi Arabian government-backed Esports World Cup Foundation in partnership with ESL FACEIT Group. 

Last year was the inaugural Esports World Cup event after being announced in 2023 by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The EWC is all part of the country’s bid to shift away from its dependence on oil and become the global hub for esports, traditional sports, and gaming. Although the event has seen some controversy after some viewed it as a method of “sportswashing” to distract from the region’s human rights record, the first EWC saw much success. 

The first-ever Esports World Cup tournament in 2024 featured 22 titles and a $62.5 million prize pool, but 2025 amps up the ante with 25 games and a massive $70 million prize pool – the largest out of any esports event in history. All titles are split into individual tournaments, with their separate prize pools taken from the overall $70 million. 

But which esports team gets the bulk of the cash prize at the EWC? Rather than an individual being crowned, the EWC introduces a point-based system that crowns an overall “Club Champion” based on their performance across titles, with Gold, Silver, and Bronze rankings. Think of it as the Olympics, but for competitive gaming instead of traditional sports. 

Here’s how the Club Points system will work, rewarding the top eight Esports World Cup teams in each discipline: 

*Tournaments with no tiebreakers: 3rd-4th = 275 Points, 5th-6th = 90 Points, 5th-8th = 60 Points, 7th-8th = 30 Points.

The esports org with the most Club Championship Points by the end of the EWC is crowned the overall champion, taking home an additional $7 million. 

Esports teams must demonstrate their skills across at least two separate tournaments, securing a top eight finish in both (winning at least one) to secure the crown. Team Falcons are the reigning EWC champions after winning on home soil last year with a dominant performance across multiple titles and over 5,000 Club Points. 

This year, 40 esports organisations have been announced as part of the EWC Club Program, including T1, G2 Esports, Team Liquid, and Team Falcons. Over 200 clubs from more than 100 countries will be competing, with a reported number of over 2,000 players set to compete at Riyadh this summer. 

With 22 esports games in the Esports World Cup 2024, this year is taking things up a notch with 25 titles in total. However, some games are notably absent from this year’s lineup, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Fortnite.

These have been replaced by new additions: Chess, VALORANT, CrossFire, and FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves. Geography-based guessing game, Geoguessr was also meant to be part of the lineup but withdrew following community backlash. 

Here’s the complete list of Esports World Cup games for the 2025 event in alphabetical order. 

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is the only title to feature two main tournaments: the Mid-Season Cup and the MLBB Women’s Invitational (MWI). Last year, the Women’s Invitational was also one of the most viewed female esports events of the year, spotlighting MLBB esports as a competitive platform that champions inclusivity and empowers female esports. 

Big esports organisations like Team Liquid, Team Falcons, and Natus Vincere will be fielding teams in the MWI 2025, the latter of which has acquired Smart Omega Empress, the reigning champions from last year’s event. 

The full Esports World Cup schedule has been revealed, spanning from July 8 to August 24 for seven weeks of non-stop action. 

Add these the start and end dates to your calendar so you don’t miss out on your favourite games. 

To accommodate the EWC excitement, there are four separate arenas, with one game per arena. These are the Qiddiya Arena, 5v5 Arena Amazon Arena, BR Arena, and the STC Play Gaming Hall. 

For any fans wanting to tune in, all the action will be broadcast live on the official EWC Twitch and YouTube channels, with VODs available after the matches have concluded. 

Last year, Esports World Cup stats showed that four games recorded over 500K viewers at their peak (namely LoL, MLBB, PUBG: Mobile, and CS2), and Saudi Arabia hopes to top these numbers in 2025. 

Following the huge success of the Esports World Cup in 2024, the prize pool has grown even more for this year’s event, from $62.5 million to $70 million. This life-changing amount means there’s plenty of cash to go around for all 25 games. 

The EWC 2025 splits the prize pool into the following categories: 

If you’re interested in what the prize pools are looking like for each game, here’s a breakdown by each title, taken from the official Esports World Cup competition page. 

Since the ESWC is only in its second year, we’ve compiled a complete list of all previous Esports World Cup winners, split into the discipline/title they competed in. 

After its dominant victories in CoD Warzone and Free Fire, as well as 2nd-place finishes in the MLBB Mid-Season Cup and Apex Legends, Team Falcons soared to the top of the overall rankings to win the Esports World Cup 2024 Club Championship. They dwarfed the 2nd-place Team Liquid’s 2,545 Points. Falcons were one of two organisations, alongside Team BDS, to win multiple Esports World Cup events. 

This is what the top 10 for last year’s ESW Club Championship looked like:

Despite only being in its second year, the Esports World Cup event is already becoming a hallmark among its fans, featuring legendary names, smash-hit titles, and massive prize pools to boot. With the amount of orgs and players participating, EWC 2025 is shaping up to be esports’ answer to the FIFA World Cup or even the Olympics. 

Which esports organisation will be the GOAT crowned at the 2025 Esports World Cup this summer? You’ll just have to tune in to find out!