Esports Nations Cup announced by the EWC Foundation
The Esports World Cup 2025 mega-event was a wild ride, with a combined prize pool of over $70 million, and dozens of the best teams/players in the world competing. These were all esports clubs, however, and as we all know, a club could technically build the best rosters in the business by throwing out copious amounts of cash.
However, that doesn’t work for national teams representing their countries. On the final day of the EWC 2025, the Esports World Cup Foundation announced something truly special: the bi-annual Esports Nations Cup (ENC), with the first event scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia in November 2026.
“Nation versus nation competition is the ultimate expression of sport,” said Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation. “The ENC makes this a reality for esports, giving every fan a flag to rally behind and every player the pride of representing their country. It’s a stage to create heroes, inspire the next generation, and, together with our partners and stakeholders, build the national ecosystems that will accelerate the growth of esports worldwide.“
The Press Release further explained how the ENC will feature national teams from all major regions, including North America, South America, Europe, MENA, Africa, Asia, and SEA & Oceania, competing in both team-based and solo-player formats. A multi-layered qualification model will balance competitiveness and inclusivity: combining global rankings, regional qualifiers, and Wildcard entries, including solidarity placements, to ensure a broad and representative competitive stage in every game. All players will receive guaranteed prize money, with equal placement rewards across all games, ensuring fairness for players. The Esports World Cup Foundation will work with relevant stakeholders in each region to shape how teams are formed and represented.
At the time of writing, it’s too early to tell precisely when, how, and where teams and players from South Africa will be able to compete, and the specific selection process.
Following the first event in November 2026, the next one will take place in a different host country in 2028. The Esports World Cup Foundation specifically mentioned Krafton, Tencent, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts as partners.
At the time of writing, specific esports titles are still unknown. We’ll let you know as soon as we know more here at Esports Central, so stay tuned!
Electronic Arts, Krafton, Tencent, and Ubisoft.
