Inaugural Esports Nations Cup Postponed to November 2027

The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup, originally scheduled to take place in November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to November 2027.

The decision was made following an ongoing assessment of the wider situation in the Middle East, and after consultation with key stakeholders. It was taken to ensure the safety of national teams, publishers, partners, and fans, with the Foundation insisting that the postponement will not change its commitment to the ENC moving forward, nor Saudi Arabia’s ability to host major sporting and entertainment events.
Bringing together teams and stakeholders from more than 100 countries and territories, the Esports Nations Cup is a new tournament in which top esports players will compete to represent their countries. The event will be hosted every two years and is set to rotate to different host cities around the world.

“The decision to postpone the Esports Nations Cup was not taken lightly,” said Esports Foundation CEO Ralf Reichert. “The response from national team partners, publishers, players, and communities around the world has shown us how much potential this competition has. We owe them an inaugural ENC delivered under the right conditions and at the level this idea deserves.

“Hosting the tournament in Riyadh next year does not change our commitment. We will continue investing in our national team partners, working with publishers, and building the national ecosystems already taking shape around the competition. The work continues, and our ambition for ENC remains unchanged.”

The Esports Foundation said that it would continue to work closely with national team partners, publishers, and other stakeholders to provide clarity on the revised competition calendar, qualification pathways, and other implications for the event’s new timeline.

Competition Features

The inaugural edition will be co-developed with several of the industry’s major publishers and video game companies — Electronic Arts, Krafton, Tencent and Ubisoft — which are expected to offer competition in their various game titles. In total, 16 games will be a part of the competition, including Chess, Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Rocket League and VALORANT, and each publisher will be responsible for shaping their game’s national ranking systems, qualification pathways, and event formats.

The format will feature national teams from North America, South America, Europe, MENA (Middle East/North Africa), Africa, Asia and SEA & Oceania, competing in team-based and solo-player formats. The qualification model is expected to combine global rankings, regional qualifiers, and wildcard entries, including solidarity placements, to ensure a broad and representative competitive stage in every game.

All players will receive guaranteed prize money, with equal placement rewards across all games.

Designed to complement the existing esports ecosystem, the ENC was set up to create new pathways for athletes, strengthen national esports development, and build new forms of fandom.

2026 Esports World Cup Host City Changed

The geopolitical tensions and travel concerns across the Middle East had already forced the 2026 Esports World Cup host city to move from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Paris, France, with less than two months’ notice.

It was the first time that the competition had been staged outside of its traditional home in the Saudi capital, and the Esports World Cup is due to conclude on August 23.

In that instance, more than 2,000 players and 200 clubs from 100-plus countries were due to compete in this year’s World Cup competitions, including 25 tournaments in multiple arenas with 24 games to be played over seven weeks this summer. A record prize pool of $75 million was also allocated to the successful players.

Speaking to SportsTravel Managing Editor Ted Keith around the time the 2026 Esports World Cup host city was changed, Esports World Cup Foundation Deputy CEO Mike McCabe said that the original fall 2026 date for the Esports Nations Cup would give a “true global representation” for publishers even in the middle of an already congested calendar.

Tensions in the Middle East came to a head at the end of February after the United States and Israel began missile strikes on Iranian missile infrastructure, military sites, and senior leaders (including killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei), with U.S. President Donald Trump calling for Iran’s government to be overthrown to “ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.”

In response, Iran launched retaliatory attacks on military bases and residential areas in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Cyprus, and ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Sports-related travel was affected by the conflict, too, with March’s Finalissima soccer match between Spain and Argentina in Qatar and Formula One races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April being canceled as a result.
In a further blow to the region, the International Olympic Committee and Saudi Arabia last October canceled a 12-year deal to host an inaugural Olympic Esports Games in Riyadh. In a statement, the IOC said that they had “mutually agreed that they will end their cooperation on the Olympic Esports Games” and that it could pursue a separate host city collaboration in the future.