Esports World Cup 2026 dates announced

Counter-Strike is set to return as a part of the Esports World Cup for 2025 and 2026. The prize pool has also been bumped up by $250,000 USD, taking the total to $1,250,000. The winning team now takes home $500,000 USD. While the dates have been released the format is yet to be announced.

Sixteen Counter-Strike teams will take part in the Esports World Cup 2025 as opposed to the fifteen in the previous iteration of the tournament. These teams will be invited based on the first Valve Regional Standings update in June 2025. Esports World Cup 2025's Counter-Strike 2 tournament will begin on 24th August 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Esports World Cup's Counter-Strike side of things for 2026 also seem to be set as the entity mentions that the event would take place between 10th August 2026 and 23rd August 2026 including travel, media days and the main event itself in their blog post.