The Esports World Cup 2026 arrives in Paris with $2 million on the line.
Teams and format
The Open Qualifier will kick off the event with a LAN competition, featuring 64 teams split into 16 GSL groups. An all-best-of-three format will see the top two teams from each group advance to a 32-team single-elimination bracket, from which the top four will advance to the main event.
The main event will feature 32 teams, with 27 invites through the VRS plus Lynn Vision (who earned their spot through winning ACL), and four earning their spots through the Open Qualifier. The teams will compete in a double-elimination group stage, with the playoffs following a best-of-three format throughout except for the grand final, which will be a best-of-five clash.
Ahead of the grand final, there will be a third-place decider with additional prize money and VRS points on the line.
- The 28 teams are:
- Vitality
- Luminosity
- Natus Vincere
- Wildcard
- Spirit
- Lynn Vision
- Falcons
- TYLOO
- FURIA
- M80
- Aurora
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Legacy
- 3DMAX
- MOUZ
- BetBoom
- The MongolZ
- 9z
- GamerLegion
- MIBR
- PARIVISION
- paiN
- Astralis
- magic
- FUT
- B8
- G2
- FaZe
Schedule and venue
The EWC 2026 group stage will start on August 12.
Whilst the full schedule has not been revealed, the schedule for day 1 of Open Qualifier can be found below:
Group 1-8
Group 9-16
The full tournament schedule of Open Qualifier can be found here.
Prizes
The Esports World Cup's Counter-Strike tournament will have $2 million on the line, up from last year's $1.25 million prize pool. Additionally, there will be Club Championship (CC) points up for grabs, which will reward partner clubs for their success across EWC tournaments.
1. $600,000 + 1000 CC points
2. $340,000 + 750 CC points
3. $190,000 + 500 CC points
4. $110,000 + 300 CC points
5-8. $60,000 + 200 CC points
9-16. $35,000
17-24. $20,000
25-32. $10,000
MVP $25,000
Talent
The talent lineup for the main event has not been announced yet. The following commentary team will cover the Open Qualifier:
Neo "Ne0kai" Caine Michael "YouM3" Cassidy Travis "Trav" Landaw Mott Henry "HenryG" Greer
Fantasy
HLTV and Hellcase are partnering to run a Fantasy game for EWC's CS tournament with the following skin prizes on offer:
1 . Paracord Knife | Damascus Steel (Minimal Wear)
2 . AK-47 | Phantom Disruptor (Factory New)
3 . M4A1-S | Party Animal (Minimal Wear)
4 . P250 | Epicenter (Minimal Wear)
5 . P250 | Epicenter (Minimal Wear)
FaZe
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken
Ryan 'Neityu' Aubry
Jakub 'jcobbb' Pietruszewski
Jason 'JBOEN' Boe Nielsen
Niclas 'enkay J' Krumhorn
BetBoom
Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov
Aleksandr 'zorte' Zagodyrenko
Pavel 'S1ren' Ogloblin
Daniil 'd1Ledez' Kustov
Kirill 'Magnojez' Rodnov
Artem 'Fierce' Ivanov
Luminosity
Aleks 'Rainwaker' Petrov
Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras
Aurélien 'afro' Drapier
Lucas 'lux' Meneghini
Oscar 'AZUWU' Bell
Astralis
Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen
Love 'phzy' Smidebrant
Jakob 'jabbi' Nygaard
Victor 'Staehr' Staehr
Gytis 'ryu' Glušauskas
Filip 'NEO' Kubski
Spirit
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev
Andrey 'tN1R' Tatarinovich
Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia
Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Sergey 'hally' Shavaev
G2
Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač
Guy 'NertZ' Iluz
Artem 'r1nkle' Moroz
Nikita 'HeavyGod' Martynenko
Matúš 'MATYS' Šimko
Eetu 'sAw' Saha
magic
Svyatoslav 'MaSvAl' Masko
Vitaliy 'sFade8' Marushka
Andrey 'AW' Anisimov
Abdurakhim 'mo0N' Issa
Nikita 'tenzy' Kochenyuk
Danila 'eksiver' Yurkov
MOUZ
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Wildcard
Nemanja 'nEMANHA' Đukić
Miłosz 'mhL' Knasiak
Danny 'Cxzi' Strzelczyk
Ethan 'reck' Serrano
Jadan 'HexT' Postma
Łukasz 'splawik' Jahns
Natus Vincere
Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen
Mihai 'iM' Ivan
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy
Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov
Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri
Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy
9z
Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez
Franco 'dgt' Garcia
Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer
Luciano 'luchov' Herrera
Matias 'HUASOPEEK' Ibañez Hernandez
Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima
FUT
Yasin 'xfl0ud' Koç
Dmytro 'dem0n' Myroshnychenko
Aulon 'Krabeni' Fazlija
Nikita 'cmtry' Samolotov
Džiugas 'dziugss' Steponavičius
András 'coolio' Fercsák
3DMAX
Bryan 'Maka' Canda
Lucas 'Lucky' Chastang
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabier
Jeremy 'Kursy' Gast
Filip 'Graviti' Brankovic
Damien 'wasiNk' Dufour
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
M80
Fritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich
Michael 'Swisher' Schmid
Elias 's1n' Stein
Josh 'JBa' Barutt
Mason 'Lake' Sanderson
Rory 'dephh' Jackson
Legacy
Andrei 'arT' Piovezan
Eduardo 'dumau' Wolkmer
Bruno 'latto' Rebelatto
Vinicius 'n1ssim' Pereira
Santino 'try' Rigal
Alan 'adrrr' Riveros
The MongolZ
Garidmagnai 'bLitz' Byambasuren
Sodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold
Usukhbayar '910' Banzragch
Zolbayar 'tikuak' Chimedtseren
Dugarsuren 'DarkMeister' Ireedui
Erdenedalai 'maaRaa' Bayanbat
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer
Martin 'stavn' Lund
Rasmus 'sjuush' Beck
Roman 'n0te' Hamze
Kacper 'xKacpersky' Gabara
Richard 'Xizt' Landström
paiN
Vinicius 'vsm' Moreira
Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt
Guilherme 'piriajr' Barbosa
Rafael 'saffee' Costa
João 'snow' Vinicius
Henrique 'rikz' Waku
MIBR
Linus 'LNZ' Holtäng
Lucas 'nqz' Soares
Breno 'brnz4n' Poletto
Felipe 'insani' Yuji
Carlos 'venomzera' Eduardo
Nestor 'LETN1' Tanić
B8
Alexey 'alex666' Yarmoshchuk
Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyi
Artem 'kensizor' Kapran
Dmytro 'esenthial' Tsvir
Danylo 's1zzi' Vinnyk
Ivan 'maddened' Iordanidi
GamerLegion
Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski
Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner
Sebastian 'Tauson' Tauson Lindelof
Timur 'FL4MUS' Marev
Milan 'hypex' Polowiec
Adrian 'imd' Pieper
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo
PARIVISION
Evgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev
Dzhami 'Jame' Ali
Vladislav 'xiELO' Lysov
Ivan 'zweih' Gogin
Vyacheslav 'slaxejezzz' Vinokurov
Dastan 'dastan' Akbayev
Michael 'YouM3' Cassidy
Aurora
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın
Ashley 'ash' Battye
Henry 'HenryG' Greer
Neo 'Ne0kai' Caine
TYLOO
Yi 'JamYoung' Yang
Dongkai 'Jee' Ji
Jingxiang 'Mercury' Wang
Qianhao 'Moseyuh' Chen
Su 'Zero' Jingshen
WeiJie 'zhokiNg' Zhong
Falcons
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
René 'TeSeS' Madsen
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov
Maksim 'kyousuke' Lukin
Danny 'zonic' Sørensen
Lynn Vision
Zhe 'Westmelon' Niu
Sike 'z4KR' Zhang
Lizhi 'Starry' Ye
Junjie 'EmiliaQAQ' Tang
Qihao 'C4LLM3SU3' Su
Yifei 'GUM' Dai