The Esports World Cup 2025 will host an important Counter-Strike 2 tournament in Riyadh later this month, featuring 16 of the world’s top teams at Boulevard Riyadh City for a compact, high-stakes LAN event.
The competition is scheduled to take place between August 20-24 and offers $1,25 million in prize money.
Teams
Here are the 16 teams that will compete in the tournament:
- Team Vitality
- MOUZ
- Team Spirit
- Natus Vincere
- GamerLegion
- FaZe Clan
- Astralis
- 3DMAX
- Team Falcons
- The MongolZ
- Aurora Gaming
- G2 Esports
- HEROIC
- Team Liquid
- Virtus.pro
- TYLOO
Each of these teams achieved decent results in 2025 and was invited based on Valve’s global ranking. Of course, some participants are much more accomplished than others. The list includes Vitality, Spirit, MOUZ, The MongolZ, and Team Falcons.
Competitive format
This CS2 event uses a 16-team playoff bracket. The format is single-elimination, and every match is a best-of-three series. To win the trophy, a team must get four consecutive victories, which is not easy.
The first eight matches look very exciting:
- Vitality vs. Liquid
- Astralis vs. TYLOO
- NAVI vs. 3DMAX
- GamerLegion vs. The MongolZ
- Virtus.pro vs. MOUZ
- G2 Esports vs. Team Falcons
- FaZe Clan vs. Aurora Gaming
- HEROIC vs. Team Spirit
The G2 Esports vs. Team Falcons match is expected to be particularly hyped. Both Nikola “NiKo” Kovac and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov used to play for G2 until recently, so they will need to face their former teammates.
Prize pool distribution
The $1,25 million will be distributed among the 16 participants in the following way:
- 1st place: $500,000 (+ 1,000 club points)
- 2nd place: $230,000 (+ 750 club points)
- 3rd place: $130,000 (+ 500 club points)
- 4th place: $70,000 (+ 300 club points)
- 5th–8th: $40,000 each (+ 200 club points)
- 9th–16th: $20,000 each.
Watching the event
Broadcasts will be available across the Esports World Cup’s channels and partner streams. Schedule details and matchups will be posted on the official site and on Liquipedia in the coming weeks.
