30 organisations join Esports World Cup Club Support Program

The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) has announced the 30 participating teams of the Esports World Cup Program.

These organisations are said to receive annual six-figure payouts to put towards the expansion into additional esports titles. The program includes most of the largest esports organisations in the industry including FaZe Clan, 100 Thieves, Fnatic, Cloud 9 and more. 

What is the EWC Club Support Program?

Initially announced in February this year, the Esports World Club Support Program is an initiative that offers financial support for esports organisations, offering “six-figure funding to enter into esports titles” according to a press release. 

While the conditions under which participation was granted are unknown, the EWCF describes the program’s goal to allow clubs to (re-)enter esports titles, expand internationally, and create novel content verticals. Though the Club Support Program is connected to the Esports World Cup, it does not guarantee participation at the event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as each organisation has to qualify for each title via each respective title’s qualifier.

The Esports World Cup is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a government program first announced in 2016 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aiming to diversify the Saudi economy. Founding Savvy Games Group in 2021, the Public Investment Fund acquired several major esports production companies such as ESL Gaming, FACEIT, and Vindex, merging them into the ESL FACEIT Group, a production company known for its Intel Extreme Masters, ESL Pro Tour, and several white label productions for various publishers across the industry.

The list of organisations

The EWCF has extended invitations to 30 esports clubs from diverse regions to join its inaugural Club Support Program. While the initial plan had only been to invite 28 teams, 22 of which were directly invited and six which would be chosen from the pool of applications, the EWCF extended an offer to two additional clubs. According to its press release, more than 150 esports organisations had applied for a chance at one of the additional slots.

In its press release, the EWCF outlined three criteria for organisations to be accepted into the program, “Club’s esports pedigree, its forward-looking competitive strategy and goals, and its creative approach to content and fan engagement.” It’s unclear which teams received one of the 22 direct invites and which organisations were chosen via the application process.

North America:

• 100 Thieves
• Cloud9
• FaZe Clan
• Gaimin Gladiators
• NRG Esports
• Spacestation Gaming
• Team Liquid
• TSM

South America:

• Furia Esports (Brazil)
• LOUD (Brazil)

Southeast Asia:

• Blacklist International
• Talon Esports

Asia:

• Gen.G Esports (South Korea)
• LGD Gaming (China)
• T1 (South Korea)
• Weibo Gaming (China)

EMEA:

• Fnatic (UK)
• G2 Esports
• Guild Esports (UK)
• Karmine Corp (France)
• KOI (Spain)
• OG
• Natus Vincere (Ukraine)
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Team Falcons (KSA)
• Team Secret
• Team Vitality (France)
• Tundra Esports (UK)
• Twisted Minds (KSA)
• Virtus.pro

The Esports World Cup fields a total prize pool of $60 million across its various competitions, with the payout further categorised into over $33 million for its respective titles and over $22 million for its Club Championship, a further incentive program that seeks to aggregate each esports organisations performance in their respective esports titles and find the top team of the event.

The Esports World Cup is set to kick off on July 3, 2024, with the MOBA titles League of Legends, Mobile Legends Bang Bang, and Dota2 opening up the competition. The event will run until August 25 with tournaments in 19 different esports titles.