Lineup, Schedule and Record Prize Pool Announced for Esports World Cup 2026

The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) has announced the full game lineup and schedule, alongside a total record prize pool of $75 million, for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), which will return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from July 6 to August 23.

More than 2,000 players and 200 clubs from 100-plus countries will compete in this year’s World Cup competitions. They include 25 tournaments in multiple arenas with 24 games to be played over seven weeks to decide the next Esports World Cup Club Champion.

It will be the third edition of the EWC, which was a rebranding from the previous Gamers8 series that had also been organized in Riyadh since 2022. Through a cross-game format, the EWC is designed to bring together the world’s best players, clubs and games for a growing global community of fans.

“The life-changing prize pool exists to support the people at the heart of esports: the players and the Clubs that invest in them year after year,” said Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation. “EWC is different because of the Club Championship. One title crowns a champion. EWC crowns the ultimate cross-game Club Champion.”

The EWC Club Championship, the flagship cross-game competition of the EWC, will award $30 million to the top 24 clubs and the winning club will receive $7 million.

Individual Game Championships will each have their own prize pools, with combined allocations exceeding $39 million. The remainder of the prize pool will be distributed through a combination of club and player awards and through qualifying events hosted by partnered publishers and organizers ahead of the EWC 2026 main event.

The 2026 Club Partner Program, which was set up to give participating clubs funding, priority access to the EWCF Superfan Program and collaboration opportunities, will support a lineup of 40 global esports organizations this year.

Confirmed Games Lineup

Fortnite and Trackmania are new additions to the lineup of 24 competitive titles on display at EWC 2026, which includes: Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Call of Duty: Warzone, Chess, Counter-Strike 2, Crossfire, Dota 2, EA Sports FC 26, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves, Fortnite, Free Fire, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Overwatch 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile, Rocket League, Street Fighter 6, Teamfight Tactics, TEKKEN 8, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege X, Trackmania, and VALORANT.

The first two editions of EWC were won by Team Falcons (Saudi Arabia) with Team Liquid (the Netherlands) finishing as runners-up. Last year’s competitions reached a reported 750 million viewers worldwide and generated 350 million hours watched, while coverage was delivered across 28 platforms through 97 broadcast partners.

EWC 2026 tickets will be available from January 22, 2026 at this link.

In October, the International Olympic Committee announced that it had canceled its 12-year agreement with Saudi Arabia to host the Olympic Esports Games. The first event had been scheduled to be held in Riyadh in 2027 but the IOC said that it would instead develop an alternative approach to the Games and pursue a new partnership model.