Following the BLAST.tv Austin Major and IEM Cologne, Team Falcons will be under huge pressure to deliver at EWC 2025. The roster is not only under scrutiny to improve their performances, but will have the eyes of their organisation on them in their headquartered city of Riyadh in Team Falcons’ most important event of the year.
Why is the Esports World Cup so important to Team Falcons?
It’s no secret that Team Falcons put a huge onus on the Esports World Cup, with the EWC and the org allegedly sharing ties.
In 2023, the Esports World Cup Foundation was established by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Though Falcons were founded by Mosaad Al-Dossary, the org is reportedly supported by anonymous financial backers, widely believed to have links to the Saudi royal family.
As such, the Esports World Cup has extreme significance for the organisation, with the event being the strategic core of Saudi Arabia’s expansion into esports as part of Project 2030 – Mohammed bin Salman’s initiative to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and world relevance beyond fossil fuels by 2030.
As much of a cliché as the phrase has become, for the Falcons organisation, ‘This is their major.’
The importance of the Esports World Cup for the org is evidenced by their jerseys. Astralis have four stars on their jerseys to signify their four major titles, Vitality now have two following their victories in Paris and Austin. Team Falcons also have a star on their jersey, but no Counter-Strike major.
What does the star on Team Falcons’ jersey mean?
It’s the Esports World Cup 2024 Club Championship, of course!
The EWC Club Championship is an overall leaderboard for the Esports World Cup in which orgs compete to get the highest Club Points total over the course of the event. Each event can earn organisations points and propel them up towards the lucrative top prizes.
The Saudi org won the $7,000,000 with their title at EWC 2024, but only won two events overall – Warzone and Free Fire. Their points tally was more than twice that of Team Liquid, who finished second, largely owing to the sheer number of games Falcons entered in comparison to their rivals.
This year, the race is closer, but Falcons are still esports betting sites favourites for the Club title, as events are expected to play out in Falcons’ favour in the final week.
With CS2 ending the seven-week event on Sunday, the Club Championship may already be in the bag by the time Counter-Strike’s Grand Final begins. Regardless, the Saudi org will want the home victory in Counter-Strike 2.
Team Falcons must show progress to sustain the project
The victory in one of esports’ most established scenes would go a long way in repaying the reported millions spent on the roster, with m0nesy, NiKo, and kyousuke all reportedly being individually bought out in excess of $1,000,000, in addition to the moves which saw ENCE’s 2023 core, dupreeh and Magisk, and HEROIC’s 2024 core come to the Saudi organisation.
Yet, Falcons have been moving backwards since their high-water mark of pushing Vitality to their limits at IEM Melbourne. The roster’s innate talent seemed to propel them directly into contention, but making a working and sustainable system within those bounds has proved challenging.
Their elimination at the BLAST.tv Austin Major in Stage 2 was a shock. Losing to B8 and Lynn Vision in the Best of 1s on the first day, the roster infamously fell on Inferno to MIBR to be eliminated with a 1-3 record in the stage that should have been a walk in the park for the stacked roster.
IEM Cologne saw the debut of the much-touted teenager, Maksim ‘kyousuke’ Lukin, previously of Spirit Academy. The 17-year-old delivered individually, but overall Falcons looked extremely disjointed. The arrival of the star-rifler brought about role changes, as he replaced an anchor in Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif.
To make space for the star, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač has given away some of his classic spots to enable his young star. While this may be noble, sacrificial, and emblematic of NiKo’s desire to win, it is also unprecedented.
NiKo has classically been an extremely vocal member of any roster he has been part of, taking active roles in mid-round and CT calling. His demotion to the peripheries may have been one of the reasons Falcons looked so uncoordinated in Cologne.
Yet it is only their second event with kyousuke, and his potential is extremely evident, so perhaps Falcons can reach for the stars (the second star on their jersey) after all.
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
