In the professional Valorant scene, all major international tournaments are held under the auspices of Riot Games as the main organizer. But in 2025, for the first time, an event will be held with the support of third-party companies, bringing together the best VCT teams from all regions. That is why, below, we will tell you in detail what the Valorant Esports World Cup 2025 is and reveal all the details of the upcoming tournament.
General information about the tournament
Valorant EWC 2025 is a new international tournament that will be held for the first time this year. It is part of the Esports World Cup 2025 series, organized by the EWC Foundation and sponsored by Sony, Jameel Motorsport, and other major companies. Tournaments are held in all well-known disciplines, such as Dota 2, CS 2, PUBG, and this year, EWC will hold its first Valorant event.
Date and format of the event
The Valorant Esports World Cup 2025 will take place from July 8 to July 13 in LAN format in Riyadh at Boulevard Riyadh City. The event will be divided into two stages, the group stage and the playoffs.
Group stage
During the group stage, 16 participating teams will be divided into 4 groups. They will compete against each other in a double-elimination format. The first opening matches will be played to 1 win, all subsequent matches to 3 wins. The top 2 teams from each group will advance to the playoffs.
Playoffs
In the next stage, 8 teams will compete under single-elimination rules, where 1 defeat means elimination from the tournament, with no lower bracket. All matches will be played to 3 wins, and the grand final to 5.
Participating teams
Sixteen teams from the VCT partner program will participate in the tournament, representing four regions: Americas, Pacific, EMEA, and China. Two slots from each region were earned by teams in the second stage of VCT Stage 1, and two more slots were played for in separate qualifying events.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Schedule of the first matches
On the first day of the tournament, there will be eight opening matches, two in each group. The schedule for the first day of the tournament is as follows:
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Odds provided by Stake and current at the time of publication
Favorites and underdogs
Although 16 teams from VCT have gathered at the tournament, even among them there are weaker and stronger ones. Below we would like to highlight the favorites and underdogs that stand out from the rest even before the start of the tournament.
Favorites
The teams that we believe are currently stronger than most of the participants are: EDward Gaming, G2 Esports, Fnatic, and Paper Rex.
EDward Gaming are the reigning world champions, who even after a year have not lost their form, which was clearly evident at Masters Bangkok 2025, where the team took 3rd place. The club also easily qualified for the current tournament, becoming the winner in its region.
G2 Esports is the strongest team in the Americas, winning Kickoff and Stage 1 in their region and qualifying for both Masters events twice. In Bangkok, the team took 2nd place, and in Toronto, 4th, which speaks to their stability on the international stage.
Fnatic has recovered well after a rather mediocre last season. Victory in the Stage 1 qualifiers and the silver title at Masters Toronto 2025 showed that the “only team in the region” is still one of the strongest in major tournaments.
Paper Rex is the last team that can claim the title of favorite. It earned this title thanks to Masters Toronto 2025, where it defeated the aforementioned Fnatic and became the winner of the event.
Underdogs
The weakest teams of the event compared to the others are Titan Esports Club, NRG, and Karmine Corp.
Titan Esports Club is in last place in the qualifiers in their region, which is why they did not qualify for any international VCT tournaments. Most likely, the team will not even make it out of the group stage.
NRG is also showing the best results after losing key players. Although the team beats some weak opponents from its region, it still has no chance against the favorites in the current tournament.
Karmine Corp, in turn, also looks weaker than most teams at EWC 2025. The updated roster has not lived up to expectations since the start of the season, and the team has not won a single prize in the first half of 2025.
Tournament prizes
Although VCT teams will participate in the tournament, the Valorant Esports World Cup 2025 itself is not part of the official competitive season, so invitations to the upcoming championship or VCT points will not be awarded. Instead, teams will compete for a large prize pool of $1,250,000 as well as Club Points, which are necessary for the final standings of organizations.
- 1st place – $500,000 and 1,000 Club Points
- 2nd place – $230,000 and 750 Club Points
- 3rd place – $130,000 and 500 Club Points
- 4th place – $70,000 and 300 Club Points
- 5th-8th place – $40,000 and 200 Club Points
- 9th-12th place – $25,000
- 13th-16th place – $15,000
You can follow all the news and results of the Valorant Esports World Cup 2025 matches at the link.
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