2026 Esports World Cup in Numbers

The World Watching

850 million viewers tuned in to experience the Esports World Cup. That added up to 440 million hours watched, as fans around the world followed the action across 100+ broadcast partners in 47 languages.

And for those who experienced EWC26 in person, 175,000 tickets were sold, while 2 million visits were recorded across the competition venues, Fan Fest and EWC activations throughout the city of Paris.

The Biggest Stage in Esports

Even before we arrived in Paris, the ROAD TO EWC featured 1.5 million players competing across 330 tournaments, all chasing their chance to make it to the biggest stage.

At the main event, 2,000+ players from over 100 nationalities, representing 200+ Clubs, competed for a record-breaking $75 million prize pool, putting everything on the line across 25 tournaments.

And for those who weren’t quite there yet, the Last Chance Qualifiers delivered one final shot. More than 1,500 players showed up in Paris to fight for their last shot at a spot in the main events across Fatal Fury, Rocket League, Counter-Strike 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Chess, FC Pro, Street Fighter 6, and TEKKEN 8.

Special Guests & Creators

5,000 co-streamers broadcasted EWC26 to communities globally. More than 350 creators attended onsite, adding their own voices, personalities and perspectives to the event.

EWC26 also welcomed some of the biggest names from gaming, sport, music and entertainment.

The Opening Ceremony at La Seine Musicale featured Aya Nakamura, DJ Snake and Theodora, kicking off EWC26 with a spectacular celebration of French and global culture

Across the weeks, fans got to see special guests including Karim Benzema, Pierre Gasly, Nick Kyrgios, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Inoxtag, Squeezie, Bigflo & Oli, AmineMaTue, Billy, Samuel Étienne, Tatiana, Ana On Air, Doigby, Kayané, Brawks, Kameto, Gotaga, Angryginge, GothamChess, Anna Cramling, and more.

Behind the Scenes

Making an event of this scale happen takes a production operation almost as impressive as the competition itself. 4,500 individual lighting fixtures helped bring the stages to life. 2,300 square metres of LED surrounded fans with the action - roughly one-third of a soccer pitch.

More than 450 kilometres of cable, including fiber, network and broadcast infrastructure, kept everything connected (that’s enough cable to stretch from London to Birmingham and back!) And with 390 cameras capturing every angle, our production teams created more than 9,000 hours of live content.

Thank you to the community

But behind every number was a fan, a player, a creator, a Club or a moment that made EWC26 what it was. Thank you for being part of it!