Despite only reaching the podium of three out of 14 tournaments they participated in, Falcons is practically guaranteed to win the 2026 EWC Club Championship and a $7,000,000 bonus.
Team Falcons’ participation at the Esports World Cup (EWC) is likely to do more for them than just “elevate the name of Saudi Arabia to the highest global stages,” as stated in their website. They are also practically guaranteed to win the accompanying Club Championship for the third time, taking home $7,000,000. This is despite competitors, like Team Vitality, catching on.
The Club Championship is a point-winning system intended to reward the best esports organization across all Esports World Cup (EWC) tournaments. Falcons have won all editions so far, however, there is a potential conflict of interest within the system.
Potential ownership conflict of interest
The EWC is an annual tournament run by the EWC Foundation since 2024. The Foundation is owned by the Savvy Games Group, part of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
Team Falcons’ participating doesn’t seem like a direct conflict of interest, publicly owned by ex-FIFA player, Musaad ‘MSDossary’ Aldossary. However, on their official website, it mentions multiple Saudi Arabian government organizations as “partners” of Team Falcons, such as the Ministries of Culture and Sport.
Team Falcons comes in each year at EWC with a large advantage, fielding the most competitive players and teams for the most EWC tournaments. In CS2 alone, they have broken records for spending on a single roster.
The Savyy Games Group on their side has made multi-billion dollar investments into esports and gaming, for instance, their purchase of ESL and FACEIT, and their ownership stake in Nintendo.
This calls into question whether the source of the $7,000,000 bonus from the Club Championship might also be the source of Falcons’ funding to be able to create all of these esports “super-teams”. Falcons have been showered with a lavish ceremony each year they have won the competition.
A miracle needed for Falcons not to win it
Despite getting close in the early stages, the setup of the Club Championship is heavily favored to Falcons.
For instance, this year Chinese esports organization All Gamers (AG) is currently in the lead for the Club Championship with 3350 points1, and will be participating in five of the remaining eight tournaments, even fielding a top player for the chess tournament.
Falcons is behind with 2900 points, however, in this same chess tournament, Falcons will have not one but two different top players competing, making a great haul of Club Points for them practically inevitable.
In addition, Falcons have a super-team with international stars in the Counter-Strike 2 roster, while AG as a Chinese organization with a focus on different esports titles has no such luck.
Top esports organizations fighting for scraps
Falcons predetermined dominance in the Club Championship means that other organizations are there to take advantage of the financial generosity of the tournament.
Though winning the Club Championship against Falcons is practically out of the question, coming in second or third place is a massive deal, with $5,000,000 and $4,000,000 awards, respectively.
These earnings are incredibly significant, given that teams such as Gentle Mates left CS2 esports due to having to pay around $1,000,000 per year on their roster.
These earnings come in addition to all of the other financial incentives for esports organizations baked into the tournament.
We have seen teams like Team Vitality pay mind to the Club Championship, fielding more rosters each year for different esports to challenge for that massive prize pool.
- Winning an EWC tournament grants 1000 Club Points, coming second and third grant 750 and 400, respectively. ↩︎
