The Esports World Cup 2026, set to take place from June 6 to August 23, has unveiled part of its schedule, confirming that the League of Legends tournament will run from June 13 to 19, during the second week of the event. Announced back in 2025, LoL – along with Riot Games’ other IPs – will continue to be featured in Saudi Arabia through 2027 as part of a partnership with the EWC Foundation, which oversees the competition.

An extended format?

The format for the 2026 edition has not yet been revealed, but it’s reasonable to assume it will be fairly similar to last year’s version, albeit with one major difference. Instead of five days as in 2025, the tournament will now span nearly seven, allowing organizers to either expand the number of participating teams or adopt a more flexible schedule. In last year’s event, twelve teams competed in Riyadh, with eight of them placed into two groups and four others invited directly to the playoffs.

That format forced some teams to play multiple matches per day — a rare occurrence in the professional League of Legends scene — even if they were only best-of-one series. All group stage matches were indeed Bo1s, with decisive encounters not even played in Bo3, a detail that might change this year with the extended format. Unsurprisingly, Gen.G Esports is expected to receive a direct invitation in 2026 after claiming the 2025 title by defeating Anyone’s Legend in a thrilling 3–2 grand final.

What's Esports World Cup

The Esports World Cup is a competition taking place over nearly two months in Saudi Arabia, where players and organizations from around the world compete across nearly 25 different games. In addition to the prize pools for each tournament, partner clubs also face off against each other to determine a Club Champion.

The Esports World Cup club ranking is based on a cumulative points system. The goal is to reward the most consistently successful club across all titles. The club at the top of the standings at the end is crowned the best esports organization of the tournament, succeeding Team Falcons, the 2024 champions.

To join the Club Championship, a club must finish top 8 in at least two tournaments. To win it, the club must also secure first place in at least one. Otherwise, the title goes to the top-scoring eligible club. With $27,000,000 up for grabs for the 24 most successful clubs, all will have their eye on the grand prize of $7,000,000.