The Esports World Cup 2026 is reportedly leaving Saudi Arabia. According to a GamesBeat report by Alexander Lee, the Esports Foundation has informed stakeholders that the event will move from Riyadh to Paris. No official confirmation has come from the EWC Foundation, but the report cites multiple sources with direct knowledge of the plans.
Why the Move Is Happening
The short answer: airlines. Over 2,500 players and team staff flew into Riyadh for EWC 2025. With the ongoing conflict in Iran causing major carriers to cancel and suspend flights to the Middle East through to October 2026, keeping a festival of this size in Saudi Arabia had become a serious logistical problem.
The conflict has already forced other major events out of the region. Formula 1 cancelled both the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, originally scheduled for April 12 and April 19 respectively, and entered a five-week hiatus as a result. Riyadh itself was struck by Iranian drones and missiles targeting the city and King Khalid International Airport in late February and early March, before a ceasefire was declared in April.
In March, the EWC Foundation confirmed the event would proceed as scheduled following those initial strikes. EWC CEO Ralf Reichert had publicly said he hoped the third edition would still be held in Riyadh. The Foundation has issued no update since that March statement, and the official EWC website still references Riyadh. The GamesBeat report is the most credible signal yet that those plans have quietly changed.
What EWC 2026 Is and Why the Stakes Are So High
This is not a small event that can relocate easily. EWC 2026 spans 25 competitions across 24 esports titles – Valorant, League of Legends, CS2, Dota 2, Overwatch, Rocket League, Fortnite Reload, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and more — running from July 6 to August 23. The total prize pool exceeds $75 million. The Club Partner Program covers 40 organisations worth $20 million. Last year, those 40 clubs generated over 330 million campaign views and activated more than 10 million fans globally.
Rosters were already locked by the April 30 deadline. Whatever happens with the venue, the competitive rosters and qualification processes for each title are set.
One specific complication worth flagging: CS2 is scheduled for the final two weeks of the event, August 12-23. EWC’s CS2 tournament this year features 32 teams — double the 2025 field — and a $2 million prize pool, a $750,000 increase from last year. Per Valve’s regulations, running the CS2 tournament in a new location or with a different format requires Valve to grant an explicit exception. Whether that process is already underway is not publicly known.
Sponsorship and Infrastructure Questions
The GamesBeat report addresses the financial side directly. The relocation is not expected to affect existing sponsorship agreements. In fact, some partners may benefit — many brands already have active European operations, and a Paris audience gives them proximity to fans that were harder to reach in Riyadh.
Sponsors whose primary audiences are in Saudi Arabia face more uncertainty, but solutions like expanded promotion rights in future events are reportedly being explored.
The harder problem is the physical one. EWC in Riyadh runs across multiple arenas simultaneously. Fans can move between venues, catching different titles on the same day. It creates a genuine esports festival atmosphere. Paris has plenty of arenas capable of hosting individual EWC events at scale — the Six Invitational 2026, which FaZe Clan won in February, was held there successfully — but replicating the multi-venue, walk-between-arenas experience of Riyadh across a major European city is a different operational challenge.
The EWC Foundation has declined to comment on the report. Early insider signals about a possible Paris move had been circulating since early May, and the GamesBeat report is the first with named sourcing confirming the Esports Foundation had directly communicated the change to stakeholders. An official announcement from the Foundation is now the only thing separating “reported” from “confirmed.”
With the event less than two months away, any delay in confirming the venue creates compounding problems for teams, broadcasters, and sponsors arranging travel, accommodation, and production. Watch this space closely.
