2025 Esports World Cup

The 2025 Esports World Cup was the second edition of the Esports World Cup, an annual international esports tournament series run by the Esports World Cup Foundation, 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.
Making their debuts this year were online chess, fighting game Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, tactical shooters Crossfire and Valorant, and battle royale game Naraka: Bladepoint. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and EA Sports FC 25 succeeded Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and EA Sports FC 24, respectively, in the game lineup.

Background

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. 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. 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.
On 23 December 2024, tactical first-person shooter Crossfire was announced as the second new game. 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.” 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.
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.. 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. 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. On 22 May 2025, GeoGuessr announced its withdrawal from EWC in response to community backlash over concerns regarding Saudi Arabia's human rights record. Naraka: Bladepoint would also be announced as part of the Esports World Cup on 15 May under the same status as Strinova and GeoGuessr.

Format

Club Championship

The Club Championship was a cross-game competition within the Esports World Cup. The championship gave out a total of among the top 24 clubs, 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:

	Points		Points
1	1000	5	200
2	750	6	150
3	500	7	100
4	300	8	50

Club Partner Program

The Esports World Cup Foundation's Club Partner 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.
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.
;Europe

;North America

;Asia

;South America

FURIA
Leviatán
LOUD

;Middle East

Calendar

The calendar was unveiled on 15 April 2025. 26 events in 25 esports were held across a seven-week calendar, shortened from the eight-week calendar from last year.

●	Competitions days

Prize pool

The 2025 Esports World Cup will have a prize pool of, 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.

Category	Prize
Club Championship	$27,000,000
Game Championships	$38,000,000
Qualifiers	$6,000,000
MVP Awards	$500,000

	Team	Prize		Team	Prize
1	Team Falcons	$7,000,000	14	DetonatioN FocusMe	$300,000
2	Team Liquid	$4,000,000	14	DN Freecs	$300,000
3	Team Vitality	$3,000,000	14	Karmine Corp	$300,000
4	Twisted Minds	$2,250,000	14	Team Secret	$300,000
4	Virtus.pro	$2,250,000	14	Team Spirit	$300,000
6	AG.AL	$1,500,000	19	G2 Esports	$225,000
7	Gen.G	$1,000,000	20	Al Qadsiah	$150,000
8	Weibo Gaming	$850,000	20	Gaimin Gladiators	$150,000
9	KuaiShou Gaming	$700,000	20	Geekay Esports	$150,000
10	DRX	$600,000	20	ROC Esports	$150,000
11	Aurora Gaming	$525,000	20	Rex Regum Qeon	$150,000
12	T1	$425,000	-	-	-
12	Team Heretics	$425,000	-	-	-

Response

The Esports World Cup continues to be criticized for its use of sportswashing to cover up Saudi Arabia's human rights record. 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."
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.
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.