Esports World Cup Club Program: organizations and their rosters

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Gamers8 was a successful series of gaming tournaments hosted throughout 2022 and 2023 in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh. With each year, the gaming festival seems to grow in prize pool, the amount of events offered, and the hype behind these events. For 2024, the Gamers8 brand has been replaced with the Esports World Cup, which will offer a record-breaking $60M+ USD in prizes. 

In 2023, Gamers8 introduced the club awards: a system rewarding organizations with extra prize money for high results across various disciplines. For this year, the Esports World Cup will expand even further upon this system, with 30 of esports largest organizations partnering with the new club program. These organizations are supported by the EWC for competing across various titles, and will receive financial support from the EWC. 

Also Read: Road to Esports World Cup 2024 — all teams, tournaments and qualifiers

Although originally intended to only feature 28 organizations, the EWC expanded this to 30 different organizations from around the globe. These organizations are eligible for a six-figure yearly payout to support their operations, and will compete for points in the club championship: a similar system to last year’s club awards. Of the total $60M offered, $20M of this is dedicated directly for the club championship.

The EWC reported they received over 150 applications from organizations around the globe to join the club program, and yesterday, the EWC announced the 30 esports clubs which will make up the program. Esports Charts has collated the list of competing clubs, including which esports disciplines they compete in, and which games see the most club partners potentially competing. Important to note, being a part of the club program does not guarantee organizations a spot in the EWC events: teams must still qualify for the events based on their competitive merit.

This came to a head for the Counter-Strike tournament, where only 6 of the 19 new program-affiliated teams with CS rosters actually managed to qualify for the EWC 2024 Counter-Strike tournament. Despite being partnered with the EWC, these organizations are not guaranteed a spot at the gaming festival. This situation was reversed for Rennsport, where all 6 partnered teams managed to qualify for the event.

Esports World Cup Club Program Teams

The organizations representing the EWC’s new revamped program showcase the full globe of esports. Organizations popular in Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, and Asia will all be supported by the EWC in the coming years. 

Representing Saudi Arabia on home soil, Team Falcons and Twisted Minds will both join the program. Twisted Minds was particularly successful in 2023, being the champion of the Gamers8 club awards. The organization took home an extra $1.5M in prize money for their performance across various esports games. This year, the EWC club championship will offer quadruple what the previous club awards had in stock, upping the stakes for this year’s Summer gaming festival. 

The other organizations partnered with the program represent some of the world’s most popular esports competitors. T1 and Weibo Gaming hold the joint esports viewership record of 6.4M concurrent viewers, thanks to their grand finals match at last year’s Worlds 2023. EWC’s club program is explicitly meant to support organization’s entering other games and fielding new teams; perhaps the EWC will be T1’s ticket into other relevant titles for this year’s festival.

Moving across to Europe, many veteran and up-and-coming European organizations will represent the EWC banner through their club program. NAVI, G2 Esports, and Fnatic are just some of these organizations that are the veterans and titans of the European esports scene now partnered with the EWC. Both Karmine Corp and KOI made the cut, two esports organizations with content creators involved in their founding. Their entry to the EWC’s program will help these organizations continue to establish themselves as a dominant global force in esports.

Of course, the Americas were not left behind. Cloud9, 100 Thieves, NRG Esports, and FaZe Clan are some of North America’s most popular esports organizations. TSM, one of North America’s most influential League of Legends organizations ever, also joined the program. TSM is no longer a League of Legends competitor, but perhaps the support of the EWC will provide them the means necessary to return to the game. From Brazil, FURIA Esports and LOUD represent South America in the program. 

All in all, the Esports World Cup has tactically chosen the teams to represent their new club program. The partnered organizations will ensure the EWC supports the esports industry around the globe, and most importantly, secures them these global audiences. 

Games at Esports World Cup 2024

The EWC 2024 will span 19 different esports games, appealing to not only many genres of esports, but also spanning both traditional and mobile esports. Esports Charts has collected the 19 titles, and highlighted which of these feature the most partnered organizations competing within them. 

League of Legends and Counter-Strike lead the way as the forefront disciplines for the upcoming festival. The MOBA title has 20 partnered organizations ready to compete, and these organizations feature 45 different teams under their banners. Counter-Strike is the leading shooter esports discipline for the EWC, with 19 organizations fielding 29 different teams for the event.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is the world’s premiere mobile gaming MOBA title, and will bring unbelievably massive Indonesian and Filipino audiences to the event. Despite only having four partnered organizations competing in the discipline, it will likely be one of the most popular events of the festival.

Esports Organizations part of the Club Program

Team name	EWC Games Involved
	Active Prior to 2024	Returned in 2024	Entered in 2024
Cloud9
Blacklist International
FaZe Clan
Fnatic
FURIA Esports
G2 Esports
Gaimin Gladiators
Karmine Corp
Gen.G Esports
Guild Esports
KOI
OG
NRG Esports
Weibo Gaming
T1
Talon Esports
Twisted Minds
Natus Vincere
Team Secret
Team Vitality
TSM
LGD Gaming
LOUD
Team Liquid
Tundra Esports
Team Falcons
Virtus.pro
Spacestation Gaming
100 Thieves
Ninjas in Pyjamas

Ultimately, the Esports World Cup 2024 is appealing to every corner of the esports industry. The gaming festival has ensured a wildly global audience thanks to its wide stretch of tournaments across all kinds of esports genres, and the newly announced teams for the club program will appeal to passionate fan bases from around the globe. The upcoming EWC 2024 will begin this July, and the festival may be the biggest gaming festival the world has yet seen. Esports Charts will track viewership statistics for all tournaments, teams, and the overall EWC throughout this year’s festival, and these statistics will be available for purchase once ready.