Esports World Cup 2026’s massive prize pool revealed

At the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025, the total combined prize pool was a whopping $70 million. Yes, that’s USD, and it was split between all the games, MVP awards, and the Club Championship system. Well, the Esports World Cup Foundation has outdone itself once again.

This year, the prize pool will exceed last year’s by $5 million. It’s an insane new record! Yes, the combined EWC 2026 is an eye-watering $75,000,000. At the current Dollar to Rand exchange rate, that’s

About the EWC 2026 prize pool

First up, the EWC Club Championship, the cross-game competition, will boast a prize pool of $30 million combined for the top 24 Clubs. That’s an increase of $3 million from last year. The winning Club will get a cool $7 million for their achievement.

Combined prize pool allocations for the 24 esports events will be over $39 million. The rest will be distributed through a combination of Club and Player Awards. This includes MVP awards for each and every tournament, alongside the Jafonso Award.

The EWC Foundation explains the Jafonso award as “for players or Clubs that win a Game Championship after advancing from a Last Chance Qualifier, as well as through qualifying events hosted by partnered publishers and organizers ahead of the EWC 2026 main event in Riyadh.”

Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation, explained that:

“The life-changing prize pool exists to support the people at the heart of esports: the players and the Clubs that invest in them year after year. EWC is different because of the Club Championship. One title crowns a champion. EWC crowns the ultimate cross-game Club Champion.”

Stay tuned to Esports Central as we’ll bring you the details, results, news and much more from the EWC 2026 mega-event!

Header image via EWC Foundation.