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Splash art for the Esports World Cup 2025's Dota 2 tournament.

The Esports World Cup 2025's Dota 2 event will run from 8 to 19 July (Image: Esports World Cup).

Dota 2

3 weeks ago

Dota 2 at the Esports World Cup 2025 - Teams, prize pool, where to watch, and more

16 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world will be battling for their cut of a US$3 million prize pool in the Esports World Cup 2025.

The Dota 2 spotlight turns to the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the next twelve days as we reach the highly-anticipated Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025'S Dota 2 competition.

The EWC is a multi-title mega event with a stacked prize pool of over $70 million–the Dota 2 competition alone claiming one of the largest shares at US$3 million. While the entire event spans nearly two months, fitting in 25 unique esports, the Dota 2 tournament will be one of the first to run, running from 8 to 19 July. 

The high-stakes action will take place live in the Boulevard Riyadh City as the world’s top Dota 2 teams clash it out not only for the crown but also for a slice of the lucrative reward. Read on for all the key details you need to know about the EWC Dota 2 tournament before the battle begins!

All participating teams

The EWC's Dota 2 tournament will feature 16 top teams—eight of which earned direct invites by finishing at the top of the ESL Pro Tour (EPT) Leaderboard while eight others secured their spots through Regional Qualifiers. Teams that performed well throughout the EPT season, placing high in tournament series like DreamLeague and ESL One, earned points that boosted their leaderboard rankings.

The eight direct invites include defending champions Gaimin Gladiators, along with top-ranked teams PARIVISION, BetBoom Team, Team Spirit, Team Falcons, Team Liquid, Tundra Esports, Talon Esports, and Aurora Gaming.

The eight teams who qualified through regional competition are: China’s Xtreme Gaming, Western Europe’s Natus Vincere (formerly Natus Vincere Junior), Eastern Europe’s Team YandexVirtus.pro (who qualified through the Middle East and West Asia region), Southeast Asia’s Execration, North America’s Shopify Rebellion, and South America’s HEROIC.

Tournament Format

The EWC's Dota 2 competition is partitioned into three stages: the Group Stage, the Elimination Phase, and the Playoffs. There will be a two-day break between the Elimination Phase and the Playoffs. 

Phase 1: Group Stage

  • 8 - 11 July
  • Four groups of four teams compete in a BO2 round-robin format
  • The #1 team of each group advances directly to the Playoffs
  • The #2 team of each group advances to the 2nd round of the Elimination Phase
  • The #3-4 of each group advances to the 1st round of the Elimination Phase

Phase 2: Elimination Phase

  • 12 - 13 July
  • Gauntlet format
  • The #3 team plays against the #4 team from the group stages, loser is eliminated
  • The winner plays the #2 team, the loser is eliminated, winner advances to the Playoffs

Phase 3: Playoffs

  • 16 - 19 July
  • Single-elimination bracket + third-place match
  • All matches are played in a BO3 format, except for a BO5 grand finals

Prize Pool and Prize Distribution

Dota 2 at the Esports World Cup offers a total prize pool of US$3 million—one of the largest at the event, alongside Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), Honor of Kings (HoK), and PUBG Mobile.

The tournament distributes its prize money to all 16 of its participants, with the champion set to take home a whopping $1 million from the Dota 2 prize pool. Here’s the full prize distribution for Dota 2 at the EWC:

  • 1st: US$1 million
  • 2nd: US$500,000
  • 3rd: US$300,000
  • 4th: US$200,000
  • 5th-8th: US$125,000
  • 9th-12th: US$75,000
  • 13th-16th: US$50,000

Dota 2 EWC Broadcast Talent Lineup

The broadcast talent for the Dota 2 EWC features some of the most notable names in the industry. The event will have dual streams during the Group Stage, each with different sets of talent. Here are the storytellers of the Dota 2 EWC:

  • Neal "Tsunami" Khandheria - Stage host
  • Ghassan "Milosh" Finge - Stage host
  • Jorien "Sheever" van der Heijden - Desk host
  • Natalie "NatTea" Mahoney - Desk host
  • Mira "Ephey" Riad - Analyst
  • Clinton "Fear" Loomis - Analyst
  • Andrew "Jenkins" Jenkins - Analyst
  • Dominik "Lacoste" Stipić - Analyst
  • Brian "BSJ" Canavan - Analyst
  • Austin "Cap" Walsh- Analyst
  • Avery "SVG" Silverman - Caster
  • Shannon "SUNSfan" Scotten - Caster
  • Maurice "KheZu" Gutmann - Caster
  • Jake "SirActionSlacks" Kanner - Content & Reporter
  • Jared "Nomad" Bajina - Interviewer
  • Kevin "Purge" Godec - Analyst & Interviewer

B Stream

  • Tsunami - Desk Host
  • Nomad - Desk Host
  • Mkrdich "MLPDotA" Zobouian  - Caster
  • Ricky "rkryptic" Peterson - Caster
  • John "johnxfire" Fernandez - Caster
  • Sébastien "Ceb" Debs - Caster

Where to Watch

If you’re planning to tune in to the Dota 2 EWC, you can hop on to the main streams here:

Or head to their secondary channels here:


For Dota 2 match results and updates on the go, don't forget to check out our Telegram channel.