Esports World Cup 2025 format announced

Following the success of the inaugural edition of the Esports World Cup 2025 last year, the tournament was announced to return this year with Counter-Strike 2 still being a part of the circuit with a bumped up prize pool of $1,250,000 USD, a $250,000 USD increase over the last iteration.

Esports World Cup 2025 will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between 20th August 2025 and 24th August 2025. Last year, the winners of the Copenhagen 2024 Major and IEM Katowice 2024 received direct invites alongside seven other invitees based on ESL Rankings. Six slots were given out through regional qualifiers, amounting to a total of fifteen teams.

The slot distribution sees a complete revamp this year with fifteen slots going straight through the Global VRS as of June 2025. The last slot is given to the winner of the HERO Esports Asian Champions League. Indian team Gods Reign has received a direct invite to the closed qualifier which will run as a studio LAN in Yancheng, China.

The Esports World Cup 2025 will run a straight forward single-elimination bracket and winner walks with a $500,000 USD cash prize.