Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 Esports World Cup for VALORANT.
SAUDI ARABIA – The 2025 Esports World Cup (EWC) for VALORANT kicks off this week, running from July 8-13, where 16 of the world’s best teams will battle for a US$1,250,000 prize pool.
Making its return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2025, the annual Esports World Cup features a unique cross-game format that pits the world’s top esports clubs and players against one another for a share of the largest prize pool in esports history. The EWC 2025 will feature over 2,000 elite players and 200 Clubs from more than 100 countries, competing in 25 tournaments across 24 games for a record-breaking $70+ million prize pool.
EWC VALORANT marks one of the first third-party VALORANT events officially approved to take place mid-season, slotted right between VCT Masters Toronto and the upcoming Stage 2 of the International Leagues. The participating teams earned their spots by finishing top two in Stage 1 of their respective International Leagues, with additional squads coming through regional qualifiers.
ALSO READ: EWC VALORANT 2025 opening matchups and schedule set
The group stage is divided into four groups of four teams, with each group featuring teams from different regions.
Group A is headlined by Paper Rex, the newly crowned VCT Masters Toronto champions, who are riding a wave of momentum into the Riyadh tournament. The Southeast Asian powerhouse will begin their EWC campaign against Bilibili Gaming. Also in the group, G2 Esports will go head-to-head with Karmine Corp, now reinforced by Matias “Saadhak” Delipetro and Dmitrii “SUYGETSU” Iliushin.
Group B will see Sentinels take on BBL Esports, while DRX face off against VCT CN Stage 1 champions, Xi Lai Gaming.
Group C features a particularly intriguing storyline. Team Heretics will clash with NRG Esports in a match filled with personal history: Benjy “benjyfishy” Fish, who rose to fame in Fortnite under the NRG banner, now goes head-to-head with his former org in a different title altogether. Meanwhile, RRQ will test their mettle against Chinese underdogs Titan Esports Club.
Finally, Group D is already being dubbed the “Group of Death” and for good reason. The last EWC VALORANT group features some of the most dangerous and battle-tested rosters in the tournament. 100 Thieves will go head-to-head with FNATIC, the perennial European powerhouse that recently made an impressive lower-bracket run at Masters Toronto, ultimately finishing as runners-up. The other matchup pits Gen.G against EDward Gaming, China’s most internationally experienced team and the 2024 VALORANT world champions.
(Photo courtesy of Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games)
EWC VALORANT will start off with BO1 matches, then switch to BO3s for the rest of the tourney (except for the BO5 grand final).
The top two teams from each group will advance to the single-elimination playoffs, where the stakes get even higher. Matches will be broadcast on dual streams throughout the group stage and quarterfinals. Starting from the semifinals, coverage will shift to a single main stream.
This tournament does not contribute to VCT Championship Points for Paris, but it does count toward the EWC Club Championship, where a staggering US$27,000,000 prize pool is on the line for the top 16 organizations across the entire EWC circuit. The winning club will walk away with US$7,000,000.
Organizations earn points by finishing in the top 8 at EWC events. However, to be eligible to win the Championship, an organization must also win at least one tournament during the circuit. The leaderboard is open to all organizations, regardless of whether they are officially part of the Club Program, though the same rules apply: a minimum of two Top 8 finishes is required to qualify for points.
In VALORANT, the following teams are part of the EWC-partnered organizations: G2 Esports, Sentinels, Bilibili Gaming, FNATIC, RRQ, Gen.G, 100 Thieves, EDward Gaming, and Karmine Corp.
That said, non-partnered teams such as Team Heretics can still make it into the Championship leaderboard, since they field multiple rosters across various titles in the EWC ecosystem.
The schedule and draw for all EWC VALORANT opening matchups can be found below (time in GMT+8):
Tuesday, July 8
- 17:00 – Paper Rex vs. Bilibili Gaming [Group A]
- 17:00 – G2 Esports vs. Karmine Corp [Group A]
- 18:00 – Sentinels vs. BBL Esports [Group B]
- 18:00 – DRX vs. Xi Lai Gaming [Group B]
- 19:00 – NRG vs. Team Heretics [Group C]
- 19:00 – RRQ vs. Titan Esports Club [Group C]
- 20:00 – 100 Thieves vs. FNATIC [Group D]
- 20:00 – Gen.G vs. EDward Gaming [Group D]
- 21:00 – Group A winners’ match
- 21:00 – Group B winners’ match
- 00:15 – Group C winners’ match
- 00:15 – Group D winners’ match
Wednesday, July 9
- 17:00 – Group A elimination match
- 17:00 – Group B elimination match
- 20:15 – Group C elimination match
- 20:15 – Group D elimination match
Thursday, July 10
- 17:00 – Group A decider match
- 17:00 – Group B decider match
- 20:15 – Group C decider match
- 20:15 – Group D decider match
Friday, July 11
- 17:00 – Quarter-final
- 17:00 – Quarter-final
- 20:15 – Quarter-final
- 20:15 – Quarter-final
Saturday, July 12
- 17:00 – Semi-final
- 20:15 – Semi-final
Sunday, July 13
- 16:00 – Third-place decider match
- 17:00 – Grand final
EWC VALORANT Prize Pool Distribution:
- 1st – US$500,000
- 2nd – US$230,000
- 3rd – US$130,000
- 4th – US$70,000
- 5-8th – US$40,000
- 9-12th – US$25,000
- 13-16th – US$15,000
Players competing in EWC VALORANT:
G2 Esports
- Jacob “valyn” Batio
- Trent “trent” Cairns
- Jonah “JonahP” Pulice
- Alexander “jawgemo” Mor
- Peter “shhhack” Belej (Assistant coach to sub for leaf)
Bilibili Gaming
- Wang “whzy” Haozhe
- Liu “Knight” Yuxiang
- Lu “Levius” Yinzhong
- Marcus “nephh” Tan
- Wang “rushia” Xiaojie
Paper Rex
- Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee
- Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto
- Ilia “something” Petrov
- Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie
- Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza
Karmine Corp
- Martin “marteen” Pátek
- Hazem “avez” Khaled
- Efe “Elite” Teber
- Dmitrii “SUYGETSU” Iliushin
- Matias “Saadhak” Delipetro
Xi Lai Gaming
- Arthur “Rarga” Churyumov
- Teng “happywei” Min-wei
- Colin “coconut” Chung
- Ran “Viva” Lifan
- Aleksandr “hvoya” Eremin (Head coach to sub for NoMan)
Sentinels
- Zachary “zekken” Patrone
- Amine “johnqt” Ouarid
- Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro
- Sean “bang” Bezerra
- Marshall “N4RRATE” Massey
BBL Esports
- Burak “LewN” Alkan
- Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen
- Dawid “PROFEK” Święć
- Volkan “sociablEE” Yönal
- Martin “Magnum” Peňkov
DRX
- Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan
- No “free1ng” Ha-jun
- Song “HYUNMIN” Hyun-min
- Kang “BeYN” Ha-bin
- Yoon “Flicker” Tae-hee (Academy player to sub for Estrella)
RRQ
- David “xffero” Monangin
- Maksim “Jemkin” Batorov
- Cahya “monyet” Nugraha
- Bryan “Kushy” Setiawan
- Ngô “crazyguy” Công Anh
Team Heretics
- Ričardas “Boo” Lukaševičius
- Benjy “benjyfishy” Fish
- Dominykas “MiniBoo” Lukaševičius
- Enes “RieNs” Ecirli
- Mert “Wo0t” Alkan
NRG
- Ethan “Ethan” Arnold
- Sam “s0m” Oh
- Adam “mada” Pampuch
- Brock “brawk” Somerhalder
- Logan “skuba” Jenkins
Titan Esports Club
- Han “Abo” Bohao
- Guo “Haodong” Haodong
- Ding “CoCo” Dajian
- Chen “TvirusLuke” Chen-ching
- Lu “lucas” Yunkun
FNATIC
- Jake “Boaster” Howlett
- Emir “Alfajer” Beder
- Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov
- Kajetan “kaajak” Haremski
- Austin “crashies” Roberts
Gen.G
- Kim “t3xture” Na-ra
- Kim “Karon” Won-tae
- Byeon “Munchkin” Sang-beom
- Ha “Ash” Hyun-cheol
- Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung
EDward Gaming
- Wan “CHICHOO” Shunzhi
- Wang “nobody” Senxu
- Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang
- Zhang “Smoggy” Zhao
- Zhang “zjc” Juncheng
100 Thieves
- Alexander “Zander” Dituri
- Kelden “Boostio” Pupello
- Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic
- Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban
- Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk
With 25 tournaments in 24 games announced to date, including four new games—Chess, Crossfire, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves and VALORANT—EWC 2025 will bring together more than 2,000 elite esports players and 200 top Clubs for the largest multi-game competition in history, with a life-changing prize pool rewarding more players and Clubs on the world’s biggest stage.
The total $70+ million prize pool is allocated across the Club Championship, Game Championships, MVP Awards, and EWC Qualifiers. Out of this, $27 million is dedicated to the EWC Club Championship — an innovative cross-game format that rewards the top 16 Clubs for their performance across multiple titles, with $7 million reserved for the 2025 champion. Game Championships will feature their own prize pools, totaling over $38 million combined, while standout players will compete for a share of the $450,000 MVP Award pool.
The 2024 event attracted over 500 million online viewers and 2.6 million visitors to Riyadh’s Boulevard City. At the inaugural EWC in 2024, Team Falcons captured the world’s attention, running up the leaderboard with 10 top-three finishes, including three first-place placements, to earn 5,665 points and ultimately win the $7 million Club Championship title. North American Team Liquid finished in second place with 2,545 points and French Team BDS placed third with 2,000 points.
For more insights on the Asian VALORANT scene and upcoming content like this, be sure to like and follow VALO2ASIA on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
Cover photo courtesy of EWC
