Esports World Cup 2026: Teams, Club Championship and Prize Pool

• EWC 2026 will feature 24 games, with 25 events in total
• PUBG Mobile, Honor of Kings and MLBB have the largest prize pools
• Prize pool is $75,000,000, $30,000,000 allocated to the Club Championship
• Esports World Cup 2026 will take place in Paris, France from July 6 to August 23
• Club Championship first place will receive $7,000,000

Esports World Cup is an annual gaming festival that has been held since 2024. EWC 2026 will feature 24 games, each with its own separate tournament. EWC also includes the Club Championship, where the organizations taking part in EWC collect points and compete against one another. The higher the placement, the larger the prize pool.

Esports World Cup 2026 brings together 24 games in total. All games except Mobile Legends: Bang Bang will have one tournament each. This game, however, will be played in men’s and women’s competitions, meaning EWC 2026 will have 25 tournaments in total.

The games no longer included from last year are StarCraft II, Rennsport, EA SPORTS FC 25. In their place, there will be EA SPORTS FC 26, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and two completely new games: Fortnite and Trackmania.

Participant numbers have changed significantly. Twelve games will have more teams or players. For example, Counter-Strike 2 has added 16 new slots, while Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has added 16 new players. Call of Duty: Warzone will have 11 additional teams, while Dota 2 and PUBG Mobile have added 8 teams each.

Street Fighter 6 is the only game to reduce its participant count, with 16 fewer players than last year.

It has been announced that EWC 2026 will feature more than 200 teams, most of which will play in 1 or 2 games.

Team Falcons will compete in 19 of 25 tournaments, the most of any organization. Team Vitality and AG.AL International will play in 15 tournaments. Virtus.pro and Aurora Gaming will play in 11 games, Gen.G Esports in 9 and Twisted Minds in 8.

Esports World Cup 2026 has a prize pool of more than $75,000,000, of which $30,000,000 is allocated to the Club Championship.

Three games have the largest $3,000,000 prize pool: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile. Another 9 games have a $2,000,000 prize pool each, and these include Dota 2, VALORANT, Apex Legends, Counter-Strike 2, CrossFire, League of Legends and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Three games have the smallest $500,000 prize pool: Trackmania, Teamfight Tactics and the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang women’s event.

In total, a prize pool of $45,000,000 will be distributed across 25 events. By a wide margin, this is the largest esports event that brings together different games and carries such a large prize pool.

Club Championship is a program that takes place during EWC, where esports organizations compete against one another. In each game, the teams finishing in the first eight places receive points:

• 1st – 1000
• 2nd – 750
• 3rd – 500
• 4th – 300
• 5th – 200
• 6th – 150
• 7th – 100
• 8th – 50

After EWC ends, the points are added up and the $30,000,000 prize pool is distributed. A total of 24 teams will be rewarded, with $7,000,000 going to first place.

An important detail is that the first-place prize will be paid only if the organization wins at least one tournament. All teams taking part in EWC compete in the Club Championship, regardless of whether they are included in the Club Program or not.

If several teams finish with the same number of points, the prize money for the occupied places is added together and divided by the number of teams. For example, the teams finishing seventh and eighth collect the same number of points. In that case, the $1,150,000 and $950,000 prizes are combined and split equally between the teams.

Esports World Cup 2026 is a unique gaming festival that is taking place for the third year in a row. This is a tournament that is gaining more and more prestige, with players arriving more motivated.

Overall, 24 games will be played, but EWC is not the most important tournament of the year in all of them. For example, EWC still does not have very high prestige in Counter-Strike 2, but it stands out with a $2,000,000 prize pool, which is the largest among all S-Tier tournaments.

The situation is similar in other games. Even if the Esports World Cup is not the most important tournament of the year, the prize pool gives organizations additional motivation.

Attention should be paid to the organizations that compete across different games and are the main contenders to win the Club Championship. A $7,000,000 cash prize is a significant amount of money for any organization. Team Falcons, Vitality, Aurora and AG.AL International are the organizations that will compete in more than 10 different games.

When making bets at the top bookmakers, each game’s tournament should be evaluated separately. In some games, EWC will be one of the first tournaments in the second half of the season, so teams that have made changes or have not yet reached their best form after a break may compete. In some games, EWC is the main tournament that has been prepared for over a long period.