The League of Legends Esports World Cup starts next week!
The inaugural Esports World Cup will start next week with a host of titles to look forward to, all of which will be vying for the lion's share of the over $60 million USD prize pool. This is the first-ever international tournament that will feature a total of 22 events spread across 21 esports titles. The first edition of the EWC will replace the Gamers8 Festival that is run by the Esports World Cup Federation, which is funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
This will also be League of Legends' first foray into third-party tournaments since the IEM Season XI - World Championship back in 2017. There were already whispers of League of Legends being a part of third-party-organised events after an overwhelmingly positive response from its appearance at the 2023 Asian Games, which saw South Korea take home the gold medal. As Riot Games is known for not releasing its IPs to just about anyone, its involvement in the EWC did come with mixed reactions from the general public.
Be that as it may, the first-ever League of Legends EWC will feature an invited list of the top eight teams from the four major regional leagues in LoL Esports. Aside from League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics is another Riot IP that will have its own event at the EWC. The three-day event will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with a total prize pool of $1 million USD with only the final four teams taking home a share of the prize money.
Esports World Cup - Format & Schedule
- Quarter-finals: July 4-5
- Semifinals: July 6
- Grand Finals: July 7
The League of Legends tournament for the Esports World Cup will be vastly different from what the teams are used to as there will be no group stage action. Instead, they will jump right into a single-elimination bracket with only three rounds of matches to play. All eight teams will start in the quarter-finals and work their way up to the grand finals. Both the quarter and semifinals will be a best-of-three series while the grand finals will be a best-of-five.
The match-ups for the quarter-finals also feature a double-header between the LPL and the LCK as both Bilibili Gaming and Top Esports will be going up against T1 and Gen.G Esports respectively. The LEC and LCS will also have their own double-header as Team Liquid will play Fnatic while G2 Esports will have its hands full with FlyQuest.
Esports World Cup - Prize Pool
As mentioned earlier, there is a $1 million USD prize pool up for grabs with the winner taking home 40 per cent. However, teams will also be playing for Club Points, which is part of the Esports World Cup's Club Championship program. There is a separate prize pool of $20 million USD that will be awarded to the top 16 esports organisations based on the number of points they earned through the various events. But to win the Club Championship, an org must first win an EWC event before they are eligible.
Placement | $USD | Club Points |
1st | $400,000 | 1,000 |
2nd | $200,000 | 600 |
3rd - 4th | $100,000 | 275 |
5th - 8th | $50,000 | 60 |
Esports World Cup - Participating Teams
Only eight teams are participating in the first-ever League of Legends Esports World Cup, which is the same line-up from the four major regions that competed at the Mid-Season Invitational a few months prior. Gen.G Esports is one obvious invite after its complete domination at MSI, which saw it lift its first-ever international title. The other team representing the LCK is none other than the reigning world champions, T1 who, despite its DDoS issues that have been plaguing the org for months, is still regarded as a top-three team with an abundance of LAN experience.
Bilibili Gaming and Top Esports are the two invited teams from the LPL that will also be part of the EWC after the former was first-runner-up for the second consecutive year at MSI. As for Top, they have arguably been the LPL's second-best team this season, surpassing many others. The LEC will have Fnatic and G2 Esports representing the region as both are storied esports organisations that have been around the scene for over a decade. Lastly, there will also be the LCS' Team Liquid and FlyQuest as both have arguably been the most consistent performers in the region.
Bilibili Gaming
FlyQuest
Fnatic
Gen.G
G2 Esports
Team Liquid
Top Esports
T1
Esports World Cup - Where to Watch
All the matches will be live-streamed on the official Esports World Cup Twitch and YouTube channels. You can catch the first series on July 4 at 6:00 p.m. AST with the second series at 9:00 p.m. AST. The two semifinal matches will also take place at the same time but only on July 6 while the grand finals the following day will start at 7:00 p.m. AST.
