Book your flight to Riyadh for 2–25 July and reserve a hotel within three Metro stops of King Saud University; every qualifier starts at 09:00 AST and last-minute rooms triple in price. 90 000 000 USD–the biggest cheque in competitive-gaming history–will be split across 28 tournaments, so even group-stage matches carry six-figure payouts.
The calendar is already locked: Week 1 runs MOBA Week (League of Legends, Dota 2, Honor of Kings), Week 2 is Shooter Week (CS2, Valorant, Overwatch 2, Rainbow Six), Week 3 focuses on Fighting & Racing (Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Gran Turismo 7), and Week 4 finishes with Battle-Royale & Strategy (PUBG, Fortnite, StarCraft II, Age of Empires IV). Each title gets a four-day group stage followed by single-elimination finals at the 25 000-seat Mohammed Abdo Arena; expect three simultaneous streams on Twitch, YouTube and the free EWC 2026 mobile app.
Buy the 30 USD “All-Access” pass before 31 March to secure floor seats and a 48-hour early window for autograph queues; after that the price jumps to 75 USD. If you can’t travel, the 4K HDR virtual-ticket bundle includes interactive team cams and real-time stats for 15 USD. Either way, add the official Google Calendar file–links are in the footer of esportsworldcup.com–so you get push alerts the moment brackets drop.
Exact Dates, Venues & How to Sync to Your Calendar
Block 15 July–2 August 2026 in your diary right now; every match, broadcast and fan-fest minute runs inside that window, so non-refundable flights and hotel rates jump after 1 May.
Riyadh’s $2.3 billion King Salman International Complex hosts the group stages in its four climate-controlled halls, while the knock-outs shift to the 40 000-seat Mohammed Abdo Arena; both venues sit on the metro’s newly opened Brown Line, exit 7, and the ride from the airport takes 18 minutes with trains every four minutes during tournament hours.
Google Calendar users can grab the official .ics feed at esportsworldcup.com/schedule/2026/sync–one tap adds 312 blocks, auto-adjusts to your time-zone and refreshes if a series runs long; Outlook and Apple Calendar links sit directly underneath, no sign-up required.
iPhone owners who rely on widgets should open the link in Safari, not the Reddit or Twitter in-app browser, otherwise the “Subscribe” prompt vanishes and you’ll be stuck with manual entry.
If you prefer a visual map, the same page spits out a personalised .pdf that colour-codes each day by genre–FPS green, MOBA blue, fighter orange–so you can spot clashes at a glance and pick which merch line to brave first.
Tickets drop 15 January at 16:00 AST; set an alarm because last year the 48-hour early-access window sold out in nine minutes, and resale on Saudi’s Tazaj platform is capped at face value plus ten percent, so late buyers rarely find seats for the finals.
Opening Weekend in Riyadh: 3–5 July 2026 at Boulevard City Arena
Book the 08:30 high-speed Haramain train from Jeddah to Riyadh on 2 July; it reaches the King Abdullah Financial District station at 11:47 and leaves you a seven-minute walk to the Arena, well before the 18:00 player walk-in that opens the weekend.
Friday 3 July starts with a 10:00 Tekken 8 Last-Chance Qualifier that feeds four finalists into the main bracket. The stage lights switch to deep-crimson at 15:00 for the Overwatch 2 group-stage opener; expect 28-minute maps and a halftime drone show synced to the game’s score. Gates reopen at 17:30 after security sweeps, so keep your wristband on if you leave for food.
Saturday 4 July is Counter-Strike 2 day: quarter-finals at 11:00, semis at 15:30, and the first Arena Finals at 20:00 with a $1 400 000 purse. The production crew will drop a translucent AR overlay onto the centre screen; sit in sections 108–111 for the clearest 270-degree view without paying VIP prices.
Sunday 5 July dedicates the morning to women’s Valorant invitational groups, then shifts to Rocket League best-of-seven grand final at 19:00. Prize money leaps to $2 000 000, the largest single-event cheque in the game’s history. Between matches, step outside to the north plaza; food trucks rotate every 90 minutes, and the Korean-Mexican fusion truck runs out of bulgogi tacos by 14:00.
Metro Line 6 runs extended service until 01:30 on all three nights. Purchase a green rechargeable card at the station, not inside the Arena; on-site vendors add a 12 % surcharge. If you’re staying in Diriyah, the 59 bus drops you 400 m from Boulevard City Gate B and costs 3 SAR flat fare.
Bring a power bank rated under 27 000 mAh–security confiscates larger ones–and download the Esports World Cup app before arrival; it pushes seat-upgrade flash sales 30 minutes before each block and lets you pre-order merch for express pickup, skipping the two-hour queue that forms after sunset.
Knock-Out Week Schedule: Daily Start Times Converted to EST, CET, JST
Set four alarms: 10 a.m. EST / 4 p.m. CET / 11 p.m. JST on Sunday 9 August for the 128-player Street Fighter 6 sudden-death bracket; the entire run from top-128 to grand-final finishes inside six hours, so any slip costs you the upset clip everyone tweets for the next month.
Monday through Thursday follow the same 90-minute block rotation:
- 11:30 a.m. EST / 5:30 p.m. CET / 12:30 a.m. JST
- 1:00 p.m. EST / 7:00 p.m. CET / 2:00 a.m. JST
- 2:30 p.m. EST / 8:30 p.m. CET / 3:30 a.m. JST
Valorant quarter-finals get the prime Monday slot, CS2 semis own Tuesday, Dota 2 lower-bracket elimination fills Wednesday, and Thursday reserves the middle block for Mobile Legends best-of-five thrillers. Each broadcast window hard-stops at four games max, so you can reliably plan dinner, commute, or that quick gym break.
Friday’s grand-final marathon starts earlier–9 a.m. EST / 3 p.m. CET / 10 p.m. JST–to squeeze five title matches into one marathon show. The producers publish a Google Calendar link that auto-converts to your phone zone; grab it, toggle notifications for 15-minute heads-ups, and you’ll never hunt for a stream link again. If you’re gifting merch, the official store drops limited stock right after each trophy lift; history says the hoodies vanish within eight minutes.
Grand-Finals Ticket Drop: 48-Hour Priority Window for EWC App Users
Install the EWC 2026 app, verify your phone, and set a calendar alarm for 18:00 AST on 30 August; the moment the priority window opens, tap “Grand-Finals,” choose the VIP or General tier, and complete Apple Pay or Google Pay in under 20 seconds–last year 73 % of priority stock vanished in the first 90 seconds, so shave off every millisecond by pre-loading your card and turning on biometrics. You can reserve up to four seats in a single transaction, link them with friends through the in-app “squad code,” and still change names for free until 24 September; after that, transfers cost 50 SAR and require a selfie ID check.
| Benefit | Priority Window | Public Sale |
|---|---|---|
| Floor lower-block | 450 SAR | 600 SAR |
| Upper-bowl center | 200 SAR | 350 SAR |
| Stage-side suites (4 seats) | 8 000 SAR | 12 000 SAR |
| Fast-lane entry | Included | +80 SAR |
If you miss the 48-hour head start, join the in-app standby queue at 19:00 AST on 1 September; the system releases cancelled baskets every five minutes, and push alerts give you a 30-second jump on the public drop. Enable location services–Riyadh Season ticket holders who allow geofencing get an extra 5 % loyalty discount stacked with the priority price, cutting a 450 SAR seat down to 427 SAR instantly.
Google & iCal One-Tap Subscription Links for Every Game Branch
Copy https://eswc26.calendar/p/all.ics into Google Calendar’s “Add by URL” box and every branch qualifier, group, playoff and grand final lands in your phone within 15 seconds. The feed refreshes every 300 seconds, so if Riot moves the Valorant quarter-final up by 90 minutes you’ll see the shift before Reddit threads catch up.
Prefer Apple gear? Tap the same link on iPhone → “Subscribe” → choose neon-purple ESWC calendar. Done. Siri now warns you “League of Legends Swiss round 4 starts in 25 minutes” while you queue for coffee.
- Mobile Legends SEA qualifiers:
https://eswc26.calendar/mlbb.ics - CS2 Americas LCQ:
https://eswc26.calendar/cs2-am.ics - TEKKEN 8 Japan bracket:
https://eswc26.calendar/t8-jp.ics - Fortnite Zero Build finals:
https://eswc26.calendar/fnb-zbf.ics - Rocket League Oceania wildcard:
https://eswc26.calendar/rl-oce.ics
Each mini-feed strips spoilers; you’ll see “Match #37 – 14:00 AST” instead of “T1 vs G2”. Disable alerts per branch in Settings → Calendars → Info → “Remove Alerts” if you hate push noise.
Outlook user? Paste the URL into File → Account Settings → Internet Calendars. Microsoft converts the UTC stamps to your local zone automatically; no .pst import dance required.
Share a single branch with clanmates: append ?token=YOUR_CLAN_TAG to any link. Only fixtures that include your tag sync, keeping their calendars clean while yours stays stacked.
Pro tip: star the feed in Google Calendar, then ask Nest Hub “Hey Google, when’s my next esport?” It reads back the next three matches, not your dentist appointment.
Prize Split Sheets & Confirmed Titles with Patch Numbers
Copy the official Google Sheet (bit.ly/EWC2026-prizes) and plug in your roster to see exactly how 42 % of every $5 000 000 cheque flows to players, 25 % to orgs, 8 % to coaches and the rest to club skins. Lock the sheet’s “Patch Override” cell to 13.7.b before you forward it to accounting; that patch number is already hard-coded into the Riyadh servers and any mismatch delays payment by 72 h.
Valve green-lit Dota 2 on 7.37e, Counter-Strike 2 on 1.0.0.37, PUBG on 25.2, Rocket League on v2.37, Overwatch 2 on 1.19.1.0, and Fortnite on v30.20. Each build is frozen two weeks before qualifiers start, so if you boot-camp on anything newer you risk a tactics clip that will not run on tournament PCs. Capcom kept Street Fighter 6 on Ver.1.7.0, Arc System Works locked Guilty Gear Strive on 1.38, and SNK froze The King of Fighters XV on 2.32; all three fighting titles share the same PS5 devkits shipped to teams on 15 May.
Mobile medals go to Honor of Kings on 1.46.1.5, PUBG Mobile on 3.2.1, and Free Fire on 1.103.1; the latter two demand 90 FPS on the provided RedMagic 10 Pro phones, so warm-up on identical hardware or your spray pattern drifts 4 % wider. League of Legends sits on 14.12, Teamfight Tactics mirrors it on 14.12-hotfix-2, and Wild Rift uses 5.2.0.603; all three share a unified prize pool of $8 000 000, but the split differs: LoL awards 45 % to players, TFT 50 %, and Wild Rift 40 %.
- CoD: MW III uses S3 build 1.37.0.91502; the 140 Hz monitors cap at 240 FPS, so cap your in-game menu at 237 to avoid screen tear penalties.
- EA FC 25 runs on Title Update 14; the offline build disables live roster updates, so your 93-rated custom pro stays legal throughout finals week.
- Rainbow Six Siege sticks to Y9S1.3; the LAN build forces 16:10 aspect, so practice with black bars or lose 8 % horizontal vision on Bank and Chalet.
Print the pdf labelled “EWC2026-patches-final” from the same Google Drive folder and tape it above each station; referees check MD5 hashes against a laminated list and reject any USB that does not match. Miss the hash, miss the match, miss the money–no appeals, no reprints, no excuses.
$75 M Total: 48 % Solo Events, 35 % Club Championships, 17 % MVP Bonuses
Book your July-August vacation around the solo brackets if you want the clearest shot at prize money; 48 % of the $75 M–exactly $36 M–sits in 1-v-1 titles like Street Fighter 6, TEKKEN 8 and Gran Turismo 7, and each of them runs a 1 024-player open qualifier that anyone with a $30 pass can enter. Sign-up opens 15 March at 12:00 UTC; previous years filled the cap in 42 minutes, so preload your profile and keep two browser tabs ready.
Club Championships carry the next-biggest slice–$26.25 M split across 24 franchised squads that must lock five fixed players plus one sub before 30 April. The payout formula is 40 % for the winning org, 20 % runner-up, 10 % third-fourth, and the remaining 30 % distributed to every qualified club just for showing up, so even a last-place finish nets roughly $330 k. If you’re scouting for a roster spot, prioritize teams that already secured a three-title minimum spread; multi-discipline lineups earn multipliers that can double their share of the bonus pool.
MVP bonuses look small on paper–$12.75 M total–but they equal a 30 % raise for the individual who claims one. Each game awards a single MVP decided by a weighted mix of KDA, objective control and live-audience vote. The cash hits the winner’s wallet within 24 h of the grand final, and Riyadh banks cover the 5 % withholding tax, so the posted figure is what actually lands in your account. Start polishing highlight reels now; last year’s fan vote swung 6 % on a 38-second clutch clip that went viral on TikTok.
Timing hack: Solo events run morning slots local time to sync with Asian primetime, while Club matches air evenings to catch U.S. audiences. If you compete in both, expect a 14-hour competition day; book a hotel inside the Boulevard Arena complex (rate locked at 480 SAR/night for players) to squeeze in a nap between heats. Shuttle buses depart every 12 min, but the security line adds 25 min on weekdays, so leave the venue no later than 07:30 for a 09:00 start.
Tax treaties matter. Saudi Arabia withholds 20 % on non-resident athletes, but players from the U.K., France and Japan can reclaim half via bilateral agreements. File form ZA/ES within 30 days of the award; the reimbursement arrives via wire transfer in SAR, so open a Wise or Revolut account beforehand to dodge the 3.2 % retail conversion fee that local banks quietly stack on top.
Stack your earnings smartly: solo winnings count as individual prize income, club payouts are treated as team revenue, and MVP bonuses are classified as personal endorsements. U.S. players keep roughly 67 % after federal + state + foreign withholdings, EU citizens average 72 %, and several Gulf states take 0 %. Run the math before you sign any org contract; a raw 90 % revenue split that waives your MVP rights can cost six figures if you pop off in three games.
Q&A:
Which exact days will the finals for Counter-Strike 2 be played, and where can I buy a single-day ticket?
The Counter-Strike 2 grand final is locked for 21 Aug at 19:00 local time in Riyadh’s King Fahad Cultural Centre. Single-day tickets go on sale 30 Oct at 11:00 AST through the official EWC site; last year they sold out in 22 minutes, so set an alarm and have your payment profile pre-filled.
How is the US $75 million pot split: is it winner-takes-all or spread thin across every ranking spot?
Not even close to winner-takes-all. 40 % goes to team championships (clubs earn points from every game), 30 % to individual tournaments, 20 % to qualifiers, 10 % to MVP bonuses. A solo title in Street Fighter 6 still nets roughly US $600 k for first place, while last-place clubs usually leave with around US $35 k after the group stage.
Will mobile titles like PUBG Mobile be played on stage with phones plugged into the big screen, or do players use emulators?
Phones only. Organizers provide uniform iQOO 13 units wired via low-latency HDMI to the projectors; no emulators, no personal devices. Each handset is flashed with a clean ROM, airplane mode forced, and kept at 60 fps cap to prevent overheating under the lights.
My daughter qualified in the women-only Rocket League side event; does she need a separate visa or will the visitor e-visa cover her?
The standard Saudi tourist e-visa is enough for competitors. Upon arrival, head to the “athlete desk” at the airport; staff attach a 30-day “event endorsement” sticker at no cost. Make sure her passport is valid six months past her exit date and she prints the approval letter—border officers rarely accept phone screenshots.
Can I bring my DSLR to photograph matches for my blog, or is there a media application process?
DSLRs are banned for spectators; security tags anything bigger than a phone. Apply for a free “citizen media” pass instead—upload three sample photos plus your blog URL. Approval arrives in about five days and grants access to the photo trench for the first 15 minutes of each series, no flash allowed.
Reviews
Sophia Williams
Girls, grab your snacks—let’s watch pixels chase million-dollar dreams together
Alexander
Sir, how will the 2026 record purse reshape player contracts, visa brackets, and publisher release calendars once the full lineup drops?
Emily
I wrote this drunk on cherry soda and rage at 3 a.m., certain the prize pool was a typo until my goldfish reminded me math exists. I swapped Tekken for Barbie Horse Adventures because nostalgia punched harder than facts. My keyboard wept glitter; I called it journalism. Sorry, winners—I listed your birthdays as release dates. Next time I’ll interview my cat; she mains Street Fighter.
Amelia
Back in '14, I soldered LEDs to my first rig for a $5 CS:GO skin. Twelve years later, Riyadh flashes the same neon on millionaires. My throat still tastes of cheap energy drink; theirs is gold leaf. I’ll watch from my blackout curtain, clutching the same cracked mousepad, pretending the roar is for me.
VelvetDawn
I just stared at the calendar: 2026 is basically tomorrow and Riyadh is already stacking $70 million like it’s Monopoly. My little cousin quit football because his team can’t match a Tekken bounty. I can’t tell Mum her savings won’t buy him a ticket, never mind a PC that won’t melt in the desert. And the lineup keeps swelling—how do I explain to her that “mobile” now means the same prize pool as Wimbledon? I’m booking flights already, heart hammering, wallet weeping.