Esports Nations Cup 2026 Runs November 2 to 29 in Riyadh With 16 Titles and a $20 Million Prize Pool
The Esports Foundation follows the club-based Esports World Cup with a national-team event: 16 titles, seven qualifying regions and a four-week staggered schedule in Riyadh.
The Esports World Cup finishes in Paris on 23 August. The next thing on the Esports Foundation's calendar is a different shape entirely: the Esports Nations Cup, running in Riyadh from 2 to 29 November 2026 with 16 titles and a $20 million prize pool.
Countries, not clubs
The Esports World Cup pays clubs. The Nations Cup pays countries. Each participating nation appoints an official National Team Partner, which is responsible for assembling the roster and managing the country's entry, so the entity that turns up in Riyadh is a national team rather than an organisation.
That gives the ecosystem the two-layer structure traditional sport has had for a century: a club season and an international one.
The 16 titles
Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends, PUBG: Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile, Honor of Kings, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Rocket League, EA Sports FC, Trackmania, Street Fighter 6, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves and chess.
The prize money is spread across all 16 under a standardised reward system rather than concentrated in the largest titles, which is a deliberate break from how most multi-title events pay out.
Scale and qualification
Team-based titles are set to draw fields of 24 to 48 countries; individual disciplines such as chess and the fighting games can run up to 128 competitors. Qualification is a hybrid — international rankings, regional qualifiers and invitations, sorted across seven global regions.
The month is staggered rather than simultaneous. Titles rotate across the four weeks, so the schedule reads as a sequence of finals rather than one crowded fortnight.
Following it on Playdash
Playdash will price the Nations Cup across all 16 titles, with match winner, map and series handicap and correct-score markets on individual fixtures, group qualification markets, and per-title outrights. Nation-level markets on overall medal counts run alongside them.
Dates, title list and prize pool as announced and reported on 20 August 2026; field sizes and qualification details are still being finalised by the organisers.