The 2025 Esports World Cup (EWC) was 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 took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 8 July to 24 August 2025 and featured 26 events in 25 esports.
On 18 December 2024, the EWCF announced a new multi-year partnership with Chess.com, adding online chess as part of the EWC lineup. Players qualified through the Champions Chess Tour 2025, consisting of 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] Carlsen was announced as the EWC's chess ambassador on 18 December 2024, while Portuguese football player Cristiano Ronaldo was announced as global ambassador on 13 June 2025.[3][5]
On 23 December 2024, tactical first-person shooter Crossfire was announced as the second new game.[6] On 6 February 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.”[7][8] On 10 February 2025, Riot Games announced a new three-year partnership with the EWCF. As part of the partnership, tactical hero shooter Valorant was added to the EWC alongside League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics, which were part of last year's lineup.[9][10]
Due to their annual release schedules, the Call of Duty and EA Sports FC series were represented by the newest entries in their respective franchises, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and EA Sports FC 25. (with EA later announcing the EA Sports FC Pro World Championship would be hosted at EWC).[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 didn't return in 2025.[11]GeoGuessr was announced as part of the Esports World Cup on 15 May 2025, in a similar manner to Strinova in that it would not count towards the Club Championship. However, GeoGuessr instead would use EWC to hold the Wildcard tournament for the GeoGuessr World Cup.[12] On 22 May 2025, GeoGuessr announced its withdrawal from EWC in response to community backlash over concerns regarding Saudi Arabia's human rights record.[13]Naraka: Bladepoint would also be announced as part of the Esports World Cup on 15 May under the same status as Strinova and GeoGuessr.[14]
Format
Club Championship
The Club Championship was a cross-game competition within the Esports World Cup. The championship gave out a total of US$27million among the top 24 clubs (used by the EWC in place of "organization"), determined by their overall performance in various games throughout the tournament. To qualify for the Club Championship, a club had to finish in the top 8 in at least two competitions, and to win the championship title, the club also had to secure first place in at least one competition. Only participants who were publicly announced as part of their respective organization before 15 May 2025 for most games, or 31 May 2025 for Apex Legends and EA Sports FC 25, were eligible to earn points for their club. Below is a breakdown of the points awarded based on placement in the individual game championships:
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 was expanded to cover 40 organizations, ten more than the 30 from the previous year.[15]
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.[16]
The calendar was unveiled on 15 April 2025 (with Naraka: Bladepoint added on 15 May).[14] 26 events in 25 esports were held across a seven-week calendar, shortened from the eight-week calendar from last year.[11]
The 2025 Esports World Cup will have a prize pool of US$71.5million, which surpasses the $62.5million 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 $27million to the top 16 teams based on their overall performance, while each of the 24 Game Championships will have a combined prize pool of $38million. Teams will earn a combined $5million during qualifying events, while $500,000 is allocated for the MVP awards.[17]
The Esports World Cup continues to be criticized for its use of sportswashing to cover up Saudi Arabia's human rights record.[18] 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."[9]
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.[19]
In June 2025, Hambino, a professional Apex Legends player representing Team Orchid, announced that they would not attend the Esports World Cup, noting that they "do not feel comfortable playing in a country that has laws allowing for queer people to be murdered". A substitute player was selected to take Hambino's place and agreed to share any tournament earnings with them. Hambino stated that their portion of the earnings would be donated to support queer members in the community.[20]
Notes
↑ For events with no tiebreakers, 3–4 receive 500 points and/or 5–8 receive 200 points.
↑ For Club Championship purposes, Ninjas in Pyjamas are known as "NIP.Estar", as NIP Group also own Chinese organization Estar Pro.
↑ For Club Championship purposes, All Gamers are known as "AG.AL Esports International" (or just AG.AL), 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).
↑ Takes the place of the CrossFire Stars Summer Championship 2025.
↑ Formerly known as the Riyadh Masters during prior editions of Gamers8 (EWC's predecessor) and the Esports World Cup. The tournament takes the place of the Tour Finals for the ESL Pro Tour 2025.
↑ Due to the Esports World Cup requiring all divisions of a club to have unified branding for the Club Championship, EVOS Divine competed as EVOS Esports during the tournament.
↑ Due to the Esports World Cup requiring all divisions of a club to have unified branding for the Club Championship, RRQ Kazu competed as Rex Regum Qeon during the tournament.
↑ Due to the Esports World Cup requiring all divisions of a club to have unified branding for the Club Championship, Bigetron by Vitality competed as Team Vitality during the tournament.
↑ Due to the Esports World Cup requiring all divisions of a club to have unified branding for the Club Championship, AG Super Play competed as AG.AL during the tournament, as they are part of the Chinese organization All Gamers.
↑ Due to the Esports World Cup requiring all divisions of a club to have unified branding for the Club Championship, Talent Gaming competed as ThunderTalk Global during the tournament, as they are part of the Chinese organization ThunderTalk Gaming.
1 2 3 This event is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Riot Games, but the tournament is officially sanctioned by the developers.
↑ Due to the Esports World Cup requiring all divisions of a club to have unified branding for the Club Championship, Anyone's Legend competed as AG.AL during the tournament, as they are part of the Chinese organization All Gamers.
↑ Known as the Naraka: Bladepoint Midseason Championship 2025. Tournament does not count towards the Esports World Cup Club Championship. The results on the top are for the Solos tournament while the results on the bottom are for the Trios tournament.
1 Owned by OverActive Media. All OAM-owned divisions competing at the 2024 Esports World Cup were renamed to Toronto Ultra for Club Championship purposes.
2 Noted as NIP.Estar since 2025, as NIP Group also owns Estar Pro in China.
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