The Crown Prince, Ronaldo, and a $70 million Prize: The Esports World Cup Just Wrapped!
Championship to remember
750 million viewers, 350 million hours streamed, and 3 million visitors in attendance—the world’s biggest esports tournament just wrapped in Riyadh with an epic closing ceremony. The Esports World Cup saw seven straight-up legendary weeks of gaming crowned with a massive flex by Team Falcons, winning a cool USD$7 mil (£5.2 million/€6 million) from the record USD$70 million (£52 million/€60 million) prize pool!
Saudi’s hometown heroes, Team Falcons, lifted their second consecutive Championship title—receiving the trophy from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—with footballing royalty Cristiano Ronaldo in attendance. Read on for the heart-stopping moments that made esports history—and how Saudi Arabia is fast becoming the capital of global gaming.
The biggest gaming moments
Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025 saw 2,000 gamers and 200 clubs from 100 countries competing in 25 tournaments, and the action at Boulevard City Riyadh just wouldn’t let up! There was no shortage of mind-blowing wins for champions and underdogs alike. How about when MongolZ (from, you guessed it, Mongolia) made history as the first all-Asian team to win an international CS title, breezing through the finals with a 3-0 win? Or when Magnus Carlsen took home the first Esports Chess World Cup, taking home $250K (£184.9K/€213.7K) and helping Team Liquid to the second spot in the Championship rankings?
And there was plenty more drama at the stc Esports Arena: Team Heretics’ first international win came after a major upset during the VALORANT final—reversing a 2-0 deficit against Fnatic—only to fall against OpTic Texas 3-2 in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 final. Major props are also in order for this year’s Chinese players: Zeng “Xiaohai” Zhuojun bagged the Street Fighter 6 prize money for the second year in a row, while team AG.AL defeated some seriously stacked CROSSFIRE maps to take home the $750K (£554.6K/€641K) prize and the coveted SONY MVP honors.
The vibes at Riyadh Boulevard City
Over the past seven weeks, EWC 2025 turned the Saudi capital into a festival of live music, retro arcades, anime cafes, creator studios, and cosplay, truly putting Riyadh on the map as the place to be every summer. Some were there for the games, but many also came for the music that pumped around all seven weeks of the competition. From the moment international sensations like Post Malone, Duckwrth, and K-Pop’s Dino (of Seventeen) lit up the first night, it kept getting louder, with everyone from classic acts like the Black Eyed Peas or all-Saudi rapper Dafencii.
The closing ceremony was no different. Just as everyone thought the awards were presented and the firework show was over, the stage roared back to life for Kid Cudi, Sevdaliza, Steve Aoki, and Saudi legend Rabeh Saqer, who closed the night out with wall-to-wall beats. What a night—the bar is set that much higher now!
The Saudi gaming story so far
Saudi Arabia is putting more than USD$38 billion (£74.6 billion/€32.5 billion) into the gaming sector, to create more than 39,000 jobs and support 250 developers—not to mention build the world’s first gaming and esports district planned for Qiddiya City. It’s a quality-of-life upgrade for everyone who lives here and an investment in more diverse and culturally relevant games. It’s also a point of pride for gamers in Saudi, and a chance to finally see themselves represented on the world’s gaming scene.
And some big news next year…
The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) didn’t let up either – just hours after the closing ceremony, the Esports Nations Cup (ENC) was announced. November 2026 will see national teams this time, with the tournament open to players from every continent.
Thinking of turning pro? Building a studio? Or just chasing epic moments? The Kingdom is ready. And it’s just getting started.
