Esports World Cup crowns champions in Paris after move from Riyadh

Macron Hands Over a $7 Million Trophy as Paris Steals the Esports World Cup’s Final Weekend

Usagevpn.com – Seven weeks of nonstop competition across 25 tournaments and 24 different titles came to a close on Sunday in Paris, where French President Emmanuel Macron personally placed the Club Championship trophy into the hands of AG.AL. The ceremony drew Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the audience, a symbolic pairing that underscored just how far this edition had traveled from its originally intended host city.

The relocation itself was anything but planned. Ongoing military conflict in the Middle East and cascading travel disruptions forced organizers to pull the entire tournament out of Riyadh and rebuild it in France on an accelerated timeline. More than 2,000 players from over 100 countries, representing 200 clubs, ended up competing in the French capital instead.

A Last-Minute Trackmania Thriller

The final day’s most dramatic sequence unfolded in Trackmania. French competitor Gwendal “Gwen” Duparc entered the championship match knowing that a third-place finish would be enough to clinch the overall Club Championship for his China-based squad, AG.AL. He did not settle for third. Duparc took the outright victory, collecting a personal prize of $130,000 (€111,500) while locking in the $7 million (€6 million) team payout. The result also snuffed out Saudi Arabia’s Team Falcons, who had been chasing a third consecutive Club Championship crown.

“Cancelling Was Never Really on the Table”

Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, who chairs the Esports Foundation’s executive committee, made clear that pulling the plug on the event was never a realistic option. His explanation pointed not to physical safety inside Saudi Arabia but to the sheer logistical complexity of funneling thousands of athletes, coaches, and industry executives through a region in flux.

“It would have been irresponsible to do something that would affect their ability to come in, whether it be visas, whether it be flight cancellations,” Prince Faisal said.

The decision, in effect, handed French organizations an unplanned home advantage. Danny Engels, chief international officer at Team Vitality, recalled the shock of learning the entire schedule would shift overnight.

“We were planning to be in Riyadh for this year as well, and all of a sudden news came out that everything was moving to Paris,” Engels said.

That home boost proved decisive in one particular bracket. Vitality’s women’s Mobile Legends squad successfully defended its title in the only all-women’s tournament on this year’s program, completing a back-to-back run that Engels described as deeply moving.

“It was very emotional for all of us. Seeing the girls win again, back to back, is not an easy thing to do,” he added.

Fortnite Reload: A 19-Year-Old’s Power Play

The Fortnite Reload Championship finale delivered its own historic moment. Taylor-Petrik “vic0” Gatschelhofer, 19, and teammate Danila “Malibuca” Iakovenko, 20, came from behind in the closing minutes of the final match to seize the title and a $260,000 purse. In doing so, they became the first pairing in the game’s history to claim consecutive major in-person tournament victories.

“In the last few minutes of the game, it was so hectic. We were getting kills here and there. We were trying to live at the same time, heal up, all that. But then when I saw it’s top two, I just decided to go for a power play, because in my eyes it was either we go home or we go big. And we went big, we won, right?” vic0 recounted.

Asked what he would do with the windfall, the teenager said most of it would go toward investments, though he left the door open for a more personal gesture.

“Maybe I’m gonna get her a new car. We’ll see,” he said, referring to his mother.

CrossFire and a Personal “Grand Slam”

Chinese outfit BaiSha Gaming also expanded its hardware collection by taking the CrossFire title. After falling short in the 2025 Esports World Cup final, BaiSha returned this year to dethrone defending champions AG.AL before sweeping Team Liquid 3-0 in the decisive match. Zheng “Xxiao” Qi framed the achievement as the culmination of years of sustained effort.

“All the efforts that I’ve put in throughout all the years have paid off,” Xxiao said, describing the win as completing his own “Grand Slam.”

Record Turnout and Operational Lessons

Organizers reported selling 175,000 tickets for the esports competitions over the seven-week run, a 94 per cent jump over the 2025 figure. Mike McCabe, CEO of the Esports Foundation, acknowledged that relocating thousands of participants on compressed timelines demanded tight coordination among clubs, game publishers, and French municipal authorities. The Paris edition also served as a live test of running multiple stages simultaneously, a format the organizers intend to carry forward.

“We’re going to take a lot of these learnings back to Riyadh and to the future events that we do,” McCabe said.

Heading Home in 2027

For now, the World Cup’s next chapter is already written. The tournament is scheduled to return to Riyadh in 2027. Meanwhile, the inaugural Esports Nations Cup, originally slated for the Saudi capital this November, has been pushed back until next year. Prince Faisal framed the Paris interlude as proof that the competition’s identity has outgrown a single geography.

“This is a real showcase that this event has gone from a Saudi event to really a global event. And it showcases that this is able to move,” he said.

The message from Paris, then, was twofold: the Esports World Cup can survive a forced relocation without losing competitive integrity, and its audience — now numbering well over a quarter-million ticketed attendees in a single edition — is no longer confined to one hemisphere. Whether that global footprint translates into sustained growth or remains a one-off anomaly will become clear when the lights come back on in Riyadh.