The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) has announced that 30 Esports World Cup orgs have been accepted into its debut EWCF Club Support Program.
Three are UK-headquartered: Fnatic, Guild Esports and Tundra Esports.
As members of the EWCF Club Support Program, these esports organisations can receive six-figure funding to enter into new esports titles.
The news comes a few days after Fnatic moved into TFT esports, with there being a $500,000 TFT tournament at Saudi’s inaugural Esports World Cup this year.
The EWCF Club Support Program is designed to ‘promote the creation of sustainable infrastructure for multidisciplinary esports clubs, empowering them to expand their investment across more games, providing impactful career opportunities and competitive support to athletes around the world’, according to a press release.
The EWCF said the funding has already enabled esports clubs to re-enter esports titles they were previously involved in, enter new genres, hire new staff, expand into different international markets and create new content verticals to engage with fans.
In response to interest in the program from orgs, the program increased the number of available slots from 28 to 30.
Of the 30, eight were selected through an open application period in February 2024, during which the EWC Foundation received more than 150 applications.
Applications were judged on three core criteria: ‘an org’s esports pedigree, its forward-looking competitive strategy and goals, and its creative approach to content and fan engagement’.
The 30 Esports World Cup orgs in the club support program hail from five major esports regions — Europe, Asia, North America, South America and the Middle East.
“The Club Support Program is critical to the EWC Foundation’s vision of building a stronger esports ecosystem and elevating esports as global sports,” said Ralf Reichert, CEO, Esports World Cup Foundation.
“Because we received so many high quality applications, we expanded our original allocation of 28 Club Support Program slots to 30, a testament to the strength of our program as it supports some of the world’s best esports clubs. I’m excited to cheer on these clubs as they work to qualify for the Esports World Cup and its life-changing prize pool of more than $60m.”
You can see the Esports World Cup games list and $60m+ prize pool breakdown for 2024 in our recent article here.
Esports World Cup orgs ‘eligible for financial rewards based on their ability to drive viewership’
Organisers added: ‘A club’s acceptance into the EWC Club Support Program does not guarantee their participation at the Esports World Cup. All clubs and athletes must seek to qualify on their own merits for each title. The prize pools in each Game Championship, along with the cross-game EWC Club Championship, are available to all EWC competitors. Regardless of their qualification to the Esports World Cup, all members of the EWC Club Support Program will be eligible for annual financial rewards based on their ability to drive viewership and fan engagement to the EWC.’
‘The Club Championship, a cross-game competitive format in the EWC, will award a total of $20m to the top 16 orgs based on their cross-game performance. At the event’s conclusion, the Club with the best performance across various game championships will be crowned the world’s first Esports World Cup Club Champion. Additionally, each of the 20 Game Championships will have their own prize pool with a combined total exceeding $33 million. A standout participant in each competition will receive a $50,000 MVP Award.’
Full list of Esports World Cup orgs in Club Support Program
- 100 Thieves
- Blacklist International
- Cloud9
- FaZe Clan
- Fnatic
- Furia Esports
- G2 Esports
- Gaimin Gladiators
- Gen.G Esports
- Guild Esports
- Karmine Corp
- KOI
- LGD Gaming
- LOUD
- OG
- Natus Vincere
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- NRG Esports
- Spacestation Gaming
- T1
- Talon Esports
- Team Falcons
- Team Liquid
- Team Secret
- Team Vitality
- TSM
- Tundra Esports
- Twisted Minds
- Virtus.pro
- Weibo Gaming
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
