The Esports World Cup has wrapped up in Paris on Sunday after seven weeks of competition, ending an edition that was not supposed to take place in France.
The tournament moved from Saudi Arabia amid the ongoing war in the region and travel disruptions.
French player Gwendal “Gwen” Duparc went into the Trackmania final needing to finish third or better to secure the overall Club Championship for the China-based AG.AL. Instead, he won it.
The victory earned Duparc $130,000 (€111,500) and secured the $7 million (€6m) Club Championship prize for his team, denying Saudi Arabia’s Team Falcons a third straight title.
French President Emmanuel Macron presented the winning club with the trophy at Sunday’s closing ceremony, attended by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
From Riyadh to Paris
More than 2,000 players representing 200 clubs from over 100 countries competed across 25 tournaments and 24 games.
Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, chairman of the Esports Foundation’s executive committee, told Euronews that cancelling the tournament was never seriously considered.
“Cancelling was never really on the table,” Prince Faisal said.
He added that the concern was not safety in Saudi Arabia, but the logistics of bringing thousands of players, staff and gaming executives into the country during the regional disruption.
“It would have been irresponsible to do something that would affect their ability to come in, whether it be visas, whether it be flight cancellations,” Prince Faisal said.
The move also gave French teams an unexpected home tournament.
“We were planning to be in Riyadh for this year as well, and all of a sudden news came out that everything was moving to Paris,” Team Vitality’s chief international officer Danny Engels told Euronews.
Vitality’s women’s Mobile Legends team successfully defended its title in the only all-women’s tournament at this year’s World Cup.
“It was very emotional for all of us,” Engels said. “Seeing the girls win again, back to back, is not an easy thing to do.”
Young champions and historic wins
The final stages of the World Cup produced several firsts.
In the Fortnite Reload Championship finale, 19-year-old Taylor-Petrik “vic0” Gatschelhofer and his 20-year-old teammate Danila “Malibuca” Iakovenko won the title and $260,000, becoming the first duo in the game’s history to win back-to-back major in-person tournaments.
They came from behind in the final game.
“In the last few minutes of the game, it was so hectic,” vic0 told Euronews.
“We were getting kills here and there. We were trying to live at the same time, heal up, all that,” he said.
“But then when I saw it’s top two, I just decided to go for a power play, because in my eyes it was either we go home or we go big. And we went big, we won, right?”
He said he planned to invest most of his prize money, but might spend some of it on his mother.
“Maybe I’m gonna get her a new car. We’ll see,” vic0 said.
Chinese team BaiSha Gaming also added to its trophy cabinet by winning the CrossFire title.
After losing the 2025 Esports World Cup final, BaiSha returned to beat defending champions AG.AL before sweeping Team Liquid 3-0 in the final.
Zheng “Xxiao” Qi told Euronews the victory completed what he described as his own “Grand Slam”.
“All the efforts that I’ve put in throughout all the years have paid off,” Xxiao said.
What comes after Paris?
Organisers say 175,000 tickets were sold for esports competitions during the seven weeks, up 94 per cent from 2025.
Mike McCabe, CEO of the Esports Foundation, said moving thousands of players and staff to Paris on an accelerated timeline required close cooperation with clubs, game publishers and French authorities.
The experience also gave organisers a chance to test different ways of running the event, including multiple stages operating at the same time.
“We’re going to take a lot of these learnings back to Riyadh and to the future events that we do,” McCabe told Euronews.
Prince Faisal said Paris showed the competition could operate beyond Saudi Arabia.
“This is a real showcase that this event has gone from a Saudi event to really a global event,” he said. “And it showcases that this is able to move.”
For now, however, the World Cup is heading home.
The Esports World Cup is scheduled to return to Riyadh in 2027, while the inaugural Esports Nations Cup, originally planned for the Saudi capital this November, has been postponed until next year.