While the majority of the world has their attention fixated on the Fifa World Cup, many esports fans are gearing up for a world cup of a different variety: the Esports World Cup. The Esports World Cup has been an annual summer event since 2024, typically lasting six weeks in early July and bleeding into late August. For the past two years of the cup’s existence, thousands of competitors and spectators alike have been hosted by the Boulevard City venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

This year though, the event’s venue and location was changed to the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France at the last minute, just eight weeks before the 2026 Esports World Cup was scheduled to begin. The reason for this change, as explained chief organizer Mike McCabe in an interview with the BBC, is due to “concerns over air travel disruption” as a result of the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran. He does note, however, that this was simply a premature advancement on early drafts of plans to host the Esports World Cup outside of Saudi, stating that “this was always part of the plan. There’s just been a change of sequence.”

Many esports players and followers of the Esports World Cup have taken to the internet to praise this year’s change, explaining that playing in Paris seems to be much safer for some, particularly members of the LGBTQ+ community and those who identify as female. In the same BBC interview as Mike McCabe is quoted in, one player who goes by Emzii online stated “It’s going to be welcoming and inclusive. I don’t think there’s going to be any barriers there for the LGBT community especially.” Emzii believes that with the 2026 Esports World Cup being hosted by Paris, there will be a “massive uptick” in spectators.

This announcement was made about a month and a half ago on May 20, 2026, but has resurfaced in discussion with the event’s opening ceremony taking place earlier today. This year’s Esports World Cup will be comprised of twenty five different tournaments and twenty four different games, including Valorant, Overwatch, Rocket League, League of Legends, and chess. Additionally, more than 200 teams represent over 100 countries, with a massive 75 million dollar prize pool (USD) across all tournaments. The 2026 Esports World Cup began today, July 8, and will conclude on August 23.