In the first days of July in sunny Riyadh, the eSports World Cup 2024or the first eSports World Cup: a two-month marathon of the best tournaments in the most popular video games, taking the Olympic Games of sport as a guide.
More than a thousand of the best eSports players from around the world will compete for a record prize pool of $60 million, and the EWC will be the main season opener for many disciplines. And, of course, the most skilled players from Russia will be among the participants.
Currently, 59 Russian players have already qualified for the finals, and about 20 more are ready to join them based on the selection results. In this article, we will tell you who and when to root for at the “eSports Olympics.”
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dota 2
The Russian-speaking community is most interested in the Dota tournament. The 20 best teams in the world will come to Riyadh, and the participants will compete for a prize fund of $5 million – several times more than at any other event of the season. Probably even more than there will be at The International.
The main hopes of our fans are related to the current world champions. Team spiritand also with BetBoom Teamwho have finished in the top three at major tournaments four times this season. These two Russian teams are among the main contenders for the Esports World Cup title.
The event also includes the Russian team Virtus.pro and seven domestic esportsmen playing for European teams: Gaimin Gladiators, Entity, Tundra Esports and PSG.Quest. All of them can compete for prizes.
Dota 2 tournament to be held within the framework of the 2024 Esports World Cup from July 4th to 21st.
Team Spirit is the current champion of the Riyadh tournament, having won the title exactly one year ago.
Photo by: Team Spirit
Counterattack 2
The Contra tournament will take place immediately after the summer break and will not be that important: it is just the first stop on the teams’ road to the December Major in Shanghai. However, the million prize money and the large number of participants indicate that the event should be interesting.
The Russians received invitations to the championship. Team spirit (current world leader) and new lineup Virtus.pro with Elektronik, who is trying to find his game and regain positions (the Bears are now in 7th place in HLTV). And the European G2 will also play at the EWC with our sniper. Ilya m0NESY Osipov.
CS 2 competitions will be held very quickly (the system is similar to the Olympic one, with elimination after defeat), in five days. Matches scheduled for July 17-21.
Team m0NESY is expecting changes before the season continues: the debut of the new lineup is planned just in time for the World Cup
Photo by: HLTV
PUBG and PUBG Mobile
In addition to the traditional Dota and Contra players from our region, Russian e-sportsmen will be competing for victory in the Krafton “battle royale” in both the PC and mobile versions.
PUBG Mobile World Cup to be held with $3 million prize pool July 19-28There will be four Russian-speaking teams among the participants: MadBulls, Brute Force (winner of the European Spring League), Team Spirit and RUKH eSports.
$2 Million PUBG Regular Version Contest Scheduled For August 21-25The Russian-Ukrainian quartet Twisted Minds (one of the best teams in the world) and Virtus.pro with the experienced Andrey Qwizzy Pobedinsky have already been invited there. The remaining participants will be determined in early July at the regional qualifiers.
Several Russian teams have a good chance of joining the “spins” and VP, including famous players from the BetBoom team and Gaimin Gladiators. It is true that there will be only three places for the European final.
Twisted Minds with the experienced BatulinS are bronze medalists of the last world championship and winners of the recent PUBG Global Series 4 2024
Photo: PUBG.ru
Other disciplines
In other games, our players and teams’ chances of winning are slightly lower, but almost all of them are able to compete for prizes.
Thus, one of the first to start will be the players of Mobile Legends. Even before the start of the World Cup, on June 28, the preliminary stage with the participation of the Russian Brute Force began. And Team Spirit (top 4 of the last World Cup) will play the first matches on the main stage on July 3 or 4.
From July 24 to 27, Riyadh will host the MLBB Women’s Invitational 2024 with an impressive prize pool of $500,000. Our region will be represented there by the VSG team, which was reinforced by two foreign players from the Philippines before the start.
IN Legends of the Apex We will keep an eye on Aurora Gaming, one of the best teams in Europe with a good chance of getting a place in the prize pool. The winners of the European qualifiers DMS and Miron Effect Novikov as part of the European Alliance will also compete for $2 million. The tournament will take place from July 21 to August 4.
In spring, Aurora won the European Online League and placed seventh at the World Playoffs in London.
Photo by: EA
In the August part of the World Cup, not all the participants are known yet and the qualifications were planned for June. You can definitely support it now. Karmine Corp. In Fortnite, Russians Malibuca and SwizzY play for the European quartet. Someone else can probably make it through the regional qualifiers.
A Rainbow Six Siege tactical shooting tournament with a prize pool of $2 million will be held from July 31 to August 4. One of the favorites in the European qualifiers will be the Russian team. Virtus.proBut it is difficult to predict whether they will make it to the final: after winning bronze at the World Championships in February, the team unexpectedly failed to qualify for the final major.
Finally, vice president The Rennsport discipline will also be featured – a realistic car simulator. In total, 12 clubs are fighting for victory in the overall standings; Virtus.pro is represented by four experienced Russian sim racers.
In other disciplines, unfortunately, the chances of seeing our players are not very high. This applies primarily to Overwatch 2, Rocket League and League of Legends, which are not very popular with us. There are theoretical chances of qualifying in FC 24, Honor of Kings, StarCraft 2 and fighting games, but they are too small.
Virtus.pro’s “rainbow” squad really lacks stability; we can only hope they are in good shape now
Photo: Virtus.pro
General ranking
About a third of the total prize pool of the Esports World Cup 2024 tournament will go to the so-called Club World Championship. Something like the medal table at the Olympics: to compete for a record $20 million, you need to perform well in several games. The bigger, the better.
The difference with the Games is that there are very few esports clubs in the world that support all disciplines at once. For example, Team Spirit has only four teams, BetBoom Team has three. As a result, the circle of contenders for victory in the overall standings is reduced to a minimum.
The number one seed in Riyadh will be local superclub Falcons, which has already qualified 14 teams for Worlds in different matches. Next up are European organisation Fnatic, Arab Twisted Minds and Virtus.pro, and our club has recruited an Australian trio of Apex Legends, fighting game masters from China and an Overwatch integration roster for this purpose.
Team Spirit has very little chance of winning the championship – the organization will bring only four teams to Saudi Arabia (Dota 2, CS 2, PUBG Mobile and MLBB). But each of them has a chance to win the title, and under certain circumstances, the “dragons” can compete for a high place in the overall standings and good cash bonuses.
Squads of different clubs that will participate in the 2024 Esports World Cup
Photo by: Liquipedia
For the next two months, eSports fans will enjoy the biggest tournaments of the most popular online games, united under a common label. And it’s good that in many disciplines we have someone to cheer for.
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