Esports World Cup 2026 CS2: Everything You Need To Know

Esports World Cup 2026 is the first huge international tournament after the summer break, and we have plenty of exciting matches and new discoveries ahead. Today, the CS.MONEY Blog tells you everything you need to know about EWC 2026: the schedule, format, and prize pool of the CS2 tournament.

We also have a cool pick’em event going on! Guess the winners, complete tasks, and win awesome skins. The prize pool is $15,000 worth of skins!

Esports World Cup 2026: dates, prize pool, format

Esports World Cup 2026 takes place in Paris from August 12 to 23. A total of 32 teams are taking part, and all matches except those on the final day will be played at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. The EWC 2026 prize pool is $2 million, with $600,000 going to the champions and another $25,000 awarded to the MVP.

The 32 teams are divided into four groups, where they will play in Double Elimination brackets. Four teams from each group will advance to the playoffs, followed by a standard 16-team single-elimination bracket. All rounds except the very first and the very last are played in a Bo3 format, while the champion will be decided in a best-of-five series.

Esports World Cup 2026 schedule

There will be two days off between the group stage and the playoffs, and the full schedule looks like this:

• Group Stage: August 12–16
• Round of 16: August 19 and 20
• Quarterfinals: August 20 and 21
• Semifinals: August 22
• Third-place match: August 23
• Grand Final: August 23

Matches start around midday and continue until late evening, so there is plenty to watch: 56 matches will be played as part of the tournament.

EWC 2026 participants

A total of 32 teams are taking part in the tournament, split into 4 groups

Where to watch EWC 2026? Live Stream, Official Broadcast

The official English-language broadcast is available on several platforms:

• Twitch
• YouTube

You can also watch the tournament via community casts:

• fl0m
• GeT_RiGhT
• HeatoN
• MAJ3R