Esports World Cup 2026: $75M Prize Pool, Full Tournament Schedule, and Key Changes

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The Esports World Cup has long been regarded as one of the most important events in the esports industry and a major objective for many organizations. Since 2023, every summer has seen professional players from around the globe travel to Riyadh to compete for a prestigious trophy and significant prize money. The event’s organizers have now revealed the first details about the Esports World Cup 2026: the prize pool has grown even larger, and the lineup of featured games has expanded.

Esports World Cup 2026 Prize Pool

The total prize pool for the Esports World Cup 2026 has increased to $75 million. As in previous years, this pool will be split between the prizes of individual tournaments and the EWC Club Championship.

Esports World Cup 2026 format changes

• -$1,000,000 for Dota 2 tournament (now $2,000,000);
• +$750,000 for VALORANT tournament (now $2,000,000);
• +$750,000 for Counter-Strike 2 tournament (now $2,000,000).

Event Changes:

• -Call of Duty: Black Ops 6;
• -StarCraft II;
• -Rennsport;
• +Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 ($2,000,000 prize pool, +$200,000 to CoD: BO6 tournament);
• +Fortnite ($1,000,000 prize pool);
• +Trackmania ($500,000 prize pool).

Esports World Cup 2026 schedule:

The Esports World Cup 2026 will be held in Riyadh from July 6 to August 23. Organizers have also released the tournament schedule for each game:

As of now, the most popular tournament in the Esports World Cup series is the MLBB Mid Season Cup 2025, which reached a peak viewership of 3,069,302 last year. It remains to be seen whether any tournament at the Esports World Cup 2026 can surpass that milestone.

The event is organized by the EWC Foundation in partnership with ESL FACEIT Group. As always, full tournament results and viewership statistics can be followed on Esports Charts.