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2025 Esports World Cup

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2025 Esports World Cup
Tournament information
SportEsports
LocationRiyadh, Saudi Arabia
DatesJuly 8–August 24
AdministratorEsports World Cup Foundation
Tournaments supervised by ESL
Number of
events
26 in 25 esports
Purse$70 million
Websiteesportsworldcup.com
← 2024

The 2025 Esports World Cup (EWC) will be the second edition of the Esports World Cup, an annual international esports tournament series run by the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF), a nonprofit organization funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. It will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from July 8 to August 24, 2025 and will feature 25 events in 24 esports.

Making their debuts this year are online chess, fighting game Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and tactical shooters Crossfire and Valorant. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and EA Sports FC 25 succeed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and EA Sports FC 24, respectively, in the game lineup.[1]

Background

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On December 18, 2024, the EWCF announced a new multi-year partnership with Chess.com, adding online chess as part of the EWC lineup. Players will qualify through the Champions Chess Tour 2025 and two online Tour events for a chance at a share of a $1.5 million prize pool. There will also be an open last chance qualifier to be held during the EWC to fill out the remaining slots in the tournament.[2][3] The addition of online chess also led to some notable chess figures being signed by various organizations, such as Magnus Carlsen with Team Liquid, Hikaru Nakamura with Team Falcons, and Ian Nepomniachtchi with Aurora Gaming, among others.[4]

On December 23, 2024, tactical first-person shooter Crossfire was announced as the second new game.[5] On February 6, 2025, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was added as part of a three-year partnership with SNK Corporation. Kenji Matsubara, CEO of SNK, then stated that “this partnership marks a historic milestone for Fatal Fury, a title loved around the world for 30 years, as it steps into the competitive gaming arena.”[6][7] On February 10, 2025, Riot Games announced a new three-year partnership with the EWCF. As part of the partnership, tactical hero shooter Valorant will be added to the EWC alongside League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics, which were part of last year's lineup.[8][9]

Due to their annual release schedules, the Call of Duty and EA Sports FC series will be represented by the newest entries in their respective franchises, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and EA Sports FC 25.[1] The Garena Free Fire and Rainbow Six Siege events will return as Free Fire and Rainbow Six Siege X. After they were featured in the 2024 EWC, the Fortnite and Strinova events won't return in 2025.[10] GeoGuessr was announced as part of the Esports World Cup on May 15, 2025, in a similar manner to Strinova in that it did not count towards the Club Championship. However, GeoGuessr instead would use EWC to hold the Wildcard tournament for the GeoGuessr World Cup.[11] On May 22 2025, GeoGuessr announced its withdrawal from EWC in response to community backlash over concerns regarding Saudi Arabia's human rights record.[12]

Format

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Club Partner Program

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The Esports World Cup Foundation's Club Partner Program (formerly the Club Support Program) was an initiative designed to provide substantial financial assistance to selected esports organizations. Through this program, chosen teams received annual financial support to enhance their operations and create more opportunities for professional players. This year, the program will be expanded to cover 40 organizations, ten more than the 30 from the previous year.[13]

The 40 teams represented the five major competitive regions — Europe, North America, Asia, South America, and the Middle East — with the majority of the teams being primarily based in Europe or Asia. Several teams from the 2024 Club Support Program, including TSM, OG and Blacklist International, did not make the Club Partner Program.[14]

Europe
North America
Asia
South America
Middle East


Calendar

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The calendar was unveiled on April 15, 2025. 25 events in 24 esports will be held across a seven-week calendar, shortened from the eight-week calendar from last year.[10]

● Competitions days
July/August 2025 July August
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Apex Legends ● ● ● ●
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 ● ● ● ●
Call of Duty: Warzone ● ● ●
Chess ● ● ● ●
Counter-Strike 2 ● ● ● ●
Crossfire ● ● ● ● ●
Dota 2 ● ● ●
EA Sports FC 25 ● ● ● ●
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves ● ● ●
Free Fire ● ● ● ●
Honor of Kings ● ● ●
League of Legends ● ● ● ●
Mobile Legends:
Bang Bang 		Men's ● ● ●
Women's ● ● ● ● ●
Overwatch 2 ● ● ● ●
PUBG: Battlegrounds ● ● ●
PUBG Mobile ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Rainbow Six Siege X ● ● ●
Rennsport ● ● ● ●
Rocket League ● ● ● ●
StarCraft II ● ● ● ●
Street Fighter 6 ● ● ●
Teamfight Tactics ● ● ● ● ●
Tekken 8 ● ● ●
Valorant ● ● ● ●

Prize pool

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The 2025 Esports World Cup will have a prize pool of US$70 million, which will surpass the $62.5 million from last year as the largest combined prize pool in esports history. Like last year, the prize money will be broken down into four categories: the Club Championship, the individual Game Championships, Qualifiers, and MVP Awards. The Club Championship awards $27 million to the top 16 teams based on their overall performance, while each of the 24 Game Championships will have a combined prize pool of $38 million. Teams will earn a combined $5 million during qualifying events, while $450,000 is allocated for the MVP awards.[15]

Prize money distribution
Category Prize
Club Championship $27,000,000
Game Championships $38,000,000
Qualifiers $5,000,000+
MVP Awards $450,000

Response

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The Esports World Cup continues to be criticized for its use of sportswashing to cover up Saudi Arabia's human rights record.[16] As part of their new partnership, Riot Games acknowledged that "some may not feel great about our decision to partner with the EWC in this way, and we respect that."[8]

In March 2025, Christopher "ChrisCCH" Hancock, a professional Street Fighter 6 player, declined to participate at the Esports World Cup after he retroactively qualified for the Street Fighter 6 tournament via participating in the SFL World Championship. He cited how EWC was funded and managed by Saudi Arabia, and how the Capcom Pro Tour's integration with EWC meant that not participating in any EWC qualifiers would be equivalent to retiring from competing in the title. Hancock had also refused to participate at Gamers8 and EWC tournaments in the past.[17]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Team qualified for the Club Partner Program as one of the top 8 clubs in the 2024 Club Championship.
  2. ^ For Club Championship purposes, Ninjas in Pyjamas will be known as "NIP.Estar", as NIP Group also own Chinese organization Estar Pro.
  3. ^ For Club Championship purposes, All Gamers will be known as "AG.AL Esports International", as the organization includes All Gamers (based in China), All Gamers Global (for players outside of China) and Anyone's Legend (the League of Legends division of All Gamers).

References

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  1. ^ a b Trilles, Calvin (2025-01-02). "All confirmed esports titles in Esports World Cup 2025 | ONE Esports". www.oneesports.gg. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  2. ^ "Chess Makes Historic Debut At Esports World Cup 2025 With $1.5 Million Prize Pool". Chess.com. 2024-12-17. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  3. ^ Šimić, Ivan (2024-12-18). "Chess joins Esports World Cup 2025, Magnus Carlsen appointed as ambassador". Esports Insider. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  4. ^ "Why are esports organizations signing chess players in 2025?". Esports Charts. 2025-02-18. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  5. ^ Sarma, Krishanu Ranjan (2024-12-23). "Esports World Cup adds CrossFire for 2025". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  6. ^ Hassall, Michael (2025-02-06). "FATAL FURY's Latest Entry Heads To The EWC". Esports.net. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  7. ^ Nicholson, Jonno (2025-02-06). "FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves added to Esports World Cup 2025 line-up". Esports Insider. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  8. ^ a b "Why We're Returning to the Esports World Cup with League, TFT, and VALORANT". Riot Games. 2025-02-10. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  9. ^ Nilendu (2025-02-11). "Riot Completes Its Trifecta as Valorant Set to Finally Appear at 2025 Esports World Cup Alongside TFT and League of Legends". fandomwire.com. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  10. ^ a b Morris, Joey (2025-04-15). "The full Esports World Cup 2025 schedule has been revealed". Esports Insider. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  11. ^ Nicholson, Jonno (2025-05-15). "GeoGuessr joins the Esports World Cup lineup". Esports Insider. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
  12. ^ Nicholson, Jonno (2025-05-22). "GeoGuessr withdraws from Esports World Cup following backlash". Esports Insider. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  13. ^ Nicholson, Jonno (10 December 2024). "Esports World Cup Foundation expands partner programme to 40 organisations". Esports Insider. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  14. ^ Maas, Lea. "EWC announces 40 esports orgs for its $20m Club Partner Program". Esports Insider. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  15. ^ "2025 Esports World Cup Reveals 70 Million USD Prize Pool". Esports Illustrated On SI. 2025-04-10. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  16. ^ Ciocchetti, Cecilia (2025-02-10). "Esports World Cup adds VALORANT for 2025 competition—but it's courting more controversy with fans". Dot Esports. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  17. ^ Makar, Connor (2025-03-18). "Top Street Fighter 6 competitor ChrisCCH declines qualification spot for Saudi-owned Esports World Cup due to "the nature in which the event is funded and managed"". VG247. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
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