Team Falcons take the Lead in EWC 2026 Club Championship after Rocket League and Chess

Team Falcons are almost guaranteed victory, All Gamers lurking, and third place is still wide open: a look back at the sixth and penultimate week of the Esports World Cup. Victorious in a second game after securing the Rocket League title, the Saudi organization, which won the 2024 and 2025 editions, should be able to continue its dominance in the competition, especially given that the club once again has the most participants in this 2026 edition.

The oldest of the newcomers to the world of esports put on a show in Paris this week, with most of the biggest names in the scene taking part. Already victorious in 2025 during chess' first appearance at the Esports World Cup, Magnus Carlsen won again this year, securing another title and 1,000 points for Team Liquid. Second in 2025, the Dutch-American club has struggled in this 2026 edition, with only 200 points before the Norwegian chess player's victory, which moved the organization back into the top 13.

Of the top eight from the 2025 edition, six names were once again present in the playoffs, bringing points to more or less the same clubs this season. Second in 2025, French chess player Alireza Firouzja fell to Carlsen in the semifinals before also losing the third-place match, this time to Hikaru Nakamura, his teammate under the Team Falcons banner. The North American's third-place finish earned the Saudi club 500 points. Second place and the accompanying 750 points went to AG.AL International through Denis Lazavik. Those points were not enough for the Chinese club to retain first place, particularly due to Falcons' run in Rocket League, but they allowed them to remain close in the overall Club Championship standings. Third, after this penultimate week, Natus Vincere also picked up 200 points in chess.

As already spoiled earlier in this article, Team Falcons went all the way in the Esports World Cup Rocket League tournament, taking first place and, most importantly, 1,000 points, their second title of the 2026 edition after Street Fighter 6. After comfortably making it out of the group stage, the Saudi club first had to defeat fellow Saudi organization Twisted Minds in the quarterfinals, before taking down Karmine Corp in the semifinals and eventually beating surprising Spacestation Gaming in the final.

Another tournament favorite, Team Vitality fell in the quarterfinals against Karmine Corp, a major blow for the Hive, which could have secured 1,000 points but ultimately walked away with just 200. The same was true for the third French club in the playoffs, Gentle Mates, who were defeated in the quarterfinals by Ninjas In Pyjamas. Karmine Corp then saw their run end in the semifinals before collapsing in the third-place match against the Chinese-Swedish organization, finishing fourth in the tournament. With these 200 points, Twisted Minds were still able to move up to second place and close the gap on the contenders for third place in the Club Championship, while Team Vitality retained fourth place overall.

It is difficult to find much more to say about the PUBG Mobile tournament at the Esports World Cup 2026. The Battle Royale event concluded this weekend with a victory for S2G Esports, despite the issues the Turkish organization faced with players falling ill on Friday during the opening day of the Grand Finals. Finishing second and third respectively, Nongshim RedForce and Aurora Gaming took advantage of the absence of all the biggest names to make small climbs up the standings.

The South Korean organization thus moved closer to the top 10 with its additional 750 points, while Aurora Gaming, which had struggled to find its momentum at this EWC, climbed to ninth place thanks to the 500 additional points they secured.