The short version

  • $75 million total prize pool, up from $71.5 million in 2025 — $30M goes to the Club Championship (top 24 clubs, $7M to the winner), $39M is split across the 25 individual game tournaments
  • Runs July 6 – August 23, 2026 in Paris, France — 25 events across 24 esports
  • Opening Ceremony: July 8 at La Seine Musicale, with DJ Snake, Aya Nakamura, and Théodara performing
  • New to the lineup: Trackmania (2020); Fortnite returns using the Reload mode; Rennsport and StarCraft II are out this year
  • Annual-release swaps: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 replaces Black Ops 6, EA Sports FC 26 replaces FC 25
  • Organized by the Esports Foundation, a nonprofit funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund

The Esports World Cup is back for its third edition, and this year it’s bigger than ever — a $75 million prize pool spread across 25 tournaments in 24 different games, running from July 6 through August 23 in Paris.

What’s changed this year

The headline number is the prize pool itself, up from $71.5 million in 2025. Of that, $30 million is reserved for the Club Championship — a season-long standings race between the top 24 esports organizations, with the winning club alone taking home $7 million. The remaining $39 million is split across the individual game tournaments themselves.

The game lineup also shifted. Trackmania (2020) joins the main lineup for the first time, and Fortnite returns after sitting out, this time competing in its Reload mode. On the way out: Rennsport and StarCraft II, neither of which made the cut this year. As usual for annually-updated franchises, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and EA Sports FC 26 slot in for their respective predecessors.

Opening week

Week 1 alone covers four tournaments plus a Last Chance Qualifier for EA Sports FC 26. VALORANT play started July 2 and wraps July 12 with the grand final. Apex Legends’ ALGS event at EWC kicked off July 7 at the Qiddiya City Grid, and Dota 2 returned with 16 teams chasing a $3 million slice of the overall pool. The Opening Ceremony itself lands July 8 at La Seine Musicale, with a performance lineup led by DJ Snake and Aya Nakamura.

Why it matters

The Esports Foundation behind EWC is funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and the event’s scale — now comfortably the richest recurring prize pool in esports — is a clear signal of how much sovereign-wealth money is reshaping competitive gaming’s calendar. Whatever side of that you land on, EWC has become a fixture most of the industry’s biggest titles now build their year around.

Sources: Esports World Cup — Prize Pool and Full Game Schedule press release, 2026 Esports World Cup — Wikipedia, EWC26 Week 1 Overview, European Gaming — What to expect at the EWC 2026 opening ceremony