Esports World Cup 2025 teams, format, schedule, prizes, talent, fantasy

18-8-2025 14:30

Sixteen teams are travelling to Riyadh to compete for $1.25 million at the Saudi esports festival.

EWC's CS tournament will kick off Wednesday

Teams and Format

It's as simple as it gets: the Esports World Cup will feature 16 teams, 15 of which invited through the VRS plus TYLOO (who earned their spot through winning ACL), competing in a single-elimination playoff bracket. All matches will be played in a best-of-three format except the grand final, which will be a best-of-five clash.

Ahead of the title match, there will be a third-place decider with extra prize money, VRS points and Club Championship (CC) on the line.

The team list is as follows:

Schedule and venue

All matches will be played at Boulevard Riyadh City in front of a crowd. Below you can find the schedule for the Round of 16:

Day 1

Date	Matches
Esports World Cup 2025
20/08/2025	Natus Vincere 13:00 3DMAX	Match
20/08/2025	GamerLegion 13:15 The MongolZ	Match
20/08/2025	TYLOO 16:15 Astralis	Match
20/08/2025	Vitality 17:05 Liquid	Match
20/08/2025	Spirit 20:10 HEROIC	Match
20/08/2025	FaZe 20:15 Aurora	Match

Day 2

Date	Matches
Esports World Cup 2025
21/08/2025	MOUZ 13:00 Virtus.pro	Match
21/08/2025	G2 13:00 Falcons	Match

The full tournament schedule can be found here.

Prizes

The Esports World Cup's Counter-Strike tournament will have $1.25 million on the line, up from last year's $1 million prize pool. Additionally, there will be Club Championship points up for grabs, which will reward partner clubs for their success across EWC tournaments.

1. $500,000 + 1000 CC points
2. $230,000 + 750 CC points
3. $130,000 +500 CC points
4. $70,000 + 300 CC points
5-8. $40,000 + 200 CC points
9-16. $20,000

NAVI won last year's EWC tournament over G2

Falcons are currently leading the Club Championship ranking with 4700 points, with Liquid (4200) and Vitality (3750) rounding out the top three.

Once EWC comes to an end, the most successful esports organization will earn a $7 million prize.

Talent

Esports World Cup talent lineup announced

Stage

Iain Chambers
Abdulaziz "Fancy" Alrasheed

Interviews

Freya "⁠Freya⁠" Spiers
James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks

Desk

Tres "⁠stunna⁠" Saranthus
Mike "⁠DarfMike⁠" Winnick
Sam "⁠Tech Girl⁠" Wright
Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović
Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche
Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole

Commentary

Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill
Alex "⁠Machine⁠" Richardson
Harry "⁠JustHarry⁠" Russell
Hugo "⁠Hugo⁠" Byron
Henry "⁠HenryG⁠" Greer
Adam "⁠Dinko⁠" Hawthorne

Fantasy

HLTV and Skin.Club are partnering to run a Fantasy game for EWC's CS tournament with the following skin prizes on offer:

1st - Hydra Gloves | Mangrove (Field-Tested)
2nd - AWP | Hyper Beast (Field-Tested)
3rd - M4A1-S | Hyper Beast (Field-Tested)

Banks.... how are you feeling rn? are you happy? where do you think was the problem?

2025-08-18 14:33

11 replies

? Whats the lore

2025-08-18 14:38

6 replies

People complain he asks the same questions over and over

2025-08-18 15:17

5 replies

He’s still miles better than other stage hosts. People need to pick their battles. Have these people not heard darfmike interviews? They’re fucking awful. Repent to god for being ungrateful for banks.

2025-08-18 18:40

4 replies

Oh yeah for sure. I am not in any way saying that is my opinion for the record. But I am not sure why they have a problem with...

2025-08-18 20:18

3 replies

His just fake and heartless. That’s why he can’t come up with anything deeper than that. During the Stockholm major his wife past away and he stayed finishing casting the event instead of go home to his two sons. He brought his new girl on posing with on last hltv award in the chair for solo pictures. So insecure poor guy Just some examples of what a dork he is

2025-08-19 21:07

2 replies

"Smash their heads in"

2025-08-20 01:15

his wife was not the mother of the two children

2025-08-20 23:49

What happened there?

2025-08-18 14:58

guys, hes just practicing his interview questions

2025-08-18 15:10

Ah yes... Like d0rkMike is any better.

2025-08-18 15:31

Would you want him to use Shakespearean English when asking questions to a player whose first language isn't English?

2025-08-18 20:54

Henry G lets goo

reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/1m..

deleted. What was it?

2025-08-18 16:35

1 reply

#94

2025-08-19 12:59

can you sum it up what what that post about? faken censorship:D

2025-08-18 18:10

Summary from the reddit post with a little bit of background: Manahel al Otaibi, a womens rights activist from the region, is apparently sitting in prison for speaking up against the government and not wearing an "abaya" (some sort of clothing) while shopping. she has been sentenced to 11 years of prison, is allegedly getting abused in it and her family or lawyers are not allowed to contact her. The prison is 20 miles away from the event location. The reddit post also states that 241 people were executed by the saudi government so far this year.

2025-08-19 13:02

who cars

Why is HLTV covering this

2025-08-18 14:34

25 replies

Because it's a big tournament?

2025-08-18 14:37

the arabs pay them

2025-08-18 14:39

Failclowns pay them

2025-08-18 15:09

because it is an increasingly prestigious event on the cs t1 calendar that is growing, despite the prejudice, hypocrisy, racism, and ignorance coming predominantly from Western European and North American holier-than-thou Elon Musk-worshipping fuckin morons. LOL! damn i went hard there... lol sorry No but seriously - yea esports is growing in the gulf region whether we like it or not.

2025-08-18 14:44

21 replies

meds

2025-08-18 14:59

>racism is when ur against the saudi government executing hundreds of people per year

2025-08-18 15:00

18 replies

It's quite a lot as is. Do you think they should do more? Bump the quota a bit?

2025-08-18 15:24

meds That's not racism. That's called capital punishment and it is still broadly supported and legal in the US The Saudi government are no saints, but if we're going to call out EWC we better have the balls to call out that the whole pro CS scene is basically sponsored by a gambling website and a neon-colored slot machine for 14-year-olds. Cartoonish casino websites operating without licenses based out of Curacao dangling pixel guns in front of pre-pubescent kids like “hey Timo, mortgage your future on this skin!", and endorsed by his favorite players.

2025-08-18 16:00

15 replies

>if we're going to call out EWC we better have the balls to call out that the whole pro CS scene is basically sponsored by a gambling website and a neon-colored slot machine for 14-year-olds. Hey, I agree about that take on gambling, but underage gambling is insignificant compared to what the Saudis do. amnesty.org.uk/saudi-arabia-human-rights.. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_rights_in_Sa.. It's like saying murder is equally as bad as stealing a wallet when in reality they're not even in the same ballpark. Parents have significant responsibility to stop their kids from gambling. Saudis punish you for things you cannot control. EWC is funded by those people.

2025-08-18 16:23

14 replies

Thank you for sharing. Bro, I love how every time Saudi Arabia comes up, suddenly everybody in USA, Germany and Sweden is Gandhi . "‘OMG!! the women!! the Sri Lankan immigrants!! the human rights!’ Like you actually care... give me a break lol. If you actually gave a shit, you’d be criticizing about half the other countries in Europe where migrant workers get chewed up like garbage, the homeless people beaten up and driven out of Paris to make way for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympic Games, or the sweatshops making our fast-fashion garbage and electronics. But no, that would be uncomfortable, because we'd be boycotting our own lifestyle. So instead we go, ‘Oh look, Saudis, easy target, Freya can't get out of her hotel hahaha..., I can shit on Saudi and can still feel righteous without missing my Starbucks Pumpkin' Spiced Latte. It’s not morals, it’s convenience outrage. --Saudi is not on board with the LGBTQIAA+ agenda--like the Trump administration, and other countries, they do not believe in advancing the LGBTQIAA agenda. --I think there is a collective under-estimation of the damage that underage gambling and what valve is promoting or turning a blind eye to: --our dear Jeff made the best documentary I've seen on this under-appreciated issue in his "The Dark Reality Behind CS: youtube.com/watch?v=JT17l53Fkj0. HIGHLY recommended.

2025-08-18 16:44

7 replies

>Like you actually care... give me a break lol. You don't know that but the reality is that I cannot do anything about it. Did you read this part? >Parents have significant responsibility to stop their kids from gambling. Saudis punish you for things you cannot control. EWC is funded by those people. You can yap all you want claiming that someone doesn't care, but at least I am not trying to undermine murder by the Saudi government and claim "gambling is just as bad". My entire point was that you seem to think promoting gambling and murdering sexual minorities (among so many other human rights abuses) are in any way equal from an ethical perspective when they are so far apart.

2025-08-18 16:49

"You don't know that but the reality is that I cannot do anything about it." --- you can transition your life away from fossil fuels. --- You can organize coalition of protest to sever Germany and Saudi Arabia's Bilateral relations --- You can write to The German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs (GESALO) in Riyadh to cease operations in Riyadh --- You can get off faceit for 8 days and actually travel to Saudi Arabia and see Riyadh for yourself and how women are living there, like I did. ">Parents have significant responsibility to stop their kids from gambling. Saudis punish you for things you cannot control. EWC is funded by those people." --- IEM Dallas that just concluded in May 2025 was sponsored by the US Air Force, a US government entity that has been actively providing support for the eradication of people in Gaza. --- Literally the same week Dallas was being played there were ICE men armed with machine guns arresting 4 fuckin guys at a home depot. Yanking babies from mothers' hands and driving people apart. I'm not yapping, I'm showing that your outrage is exclusively focused on Saudi Arabia's human rights record, while purposefully turning a blind eye on our own in the US and Germany, because it is uncomfortable.

2025-08-18 16:57

How about we're only talking about Saudi Arabian human rights abuses because Saudi Arabia is the only government that is directly owning (besides Denmark) and controlling esports? You know, the thing this website was made to talk about? Why is the US and Germany relevant when they don't own an esports team and don't control the largest esports organization? Why are we obligated to caveat our "outrage" with every other country doing the same thing? The only people that require that are plainly idiots that are "uncomfortable" with the negativity surrounding their precious esports. We all hate what other countries have done (including the dogshit country I live in) We also ALWAYS talk about other countries doing fucked up shit. No one ignores the US, the entire WORLD talks about constantly how fucked up it is. It just so happens that Saudi is the only RELEVANT country in the esports space in terms of its government directly interfacing with the industry.

2025-08-18 18:34

Valid points. Thanks for sharing. I'd only say that the US is relevant in the sense that the US Air Force is a major sponsor of IEM Dallas and USAF and Navy both have had initiatives with Complexity. Both Navy and Air Force are obviously not only government entities but military -- which makes it pretty disgusting. USAF as one of the major suppliers of the ongoing extermination in Gaza is a heavy and uncomfortable topic, but one that is often conveniently forgotten when IEM Dallas comes around. However, when it's EWC time, all of a sudden we Texans and Oklahomans all care about human rights of Sri Lankan immigrants in Saudi Arabia! Saudi Arabia has already begun planning and implementing the privatization of its football teams. I suspect this privatization trend could continue towards its esports acquisitions as well - would that help? would that pass the human rights eye-test ?

2025-08-18 18:43

The Navy and Army sponsor events, which yes its disgusting, they dont control esports events or own any sort of share in the industry. Its just advertising. That's far different from owning 1/3+ of esports events in its entirety with no disclosure. At least you KNOW you're watching US Army propaganda when the ad is shown. As long as those teams and organizations are headed by agents of the royal family and are still controlled through shell companies by the government, no, it doesnt pass the "humaan rights eye-test". Also lol, "You guys only start talking about it once the topic becomes relevant on the forums again! Checkmate!" uh... yeah, that's how public discourse works. Talking about RELEVANT (keyword) topics. How many years of Army esports adverts have been made fun of? Like 10 now? We already talked about it for years on end. The saudi topic is still fresh and dynamic, with new info coming out yearly. Of course people will talk about it more. Especially because its more egregious and interfering with the industry on an exponentially larger scale. We can get away from US Army adverts, we can't escape from the tendrils of SA influence in our industry.

2025-08-18 22:53

That's not how public discourse works. That's how one-sided, double standard, we dont understand arabs/muslims and we dont like their their societies discourse works. Look I get it: Esports bros in the US and Europe tend to value grassroots culture, fan-driven growth, and “authenticity.” I get it -- a sudden injection of huge Saudi wealth funds can feel artificial, corporate, and culturally distant. I get that -- the idea of a government, especially an Islamic one, investing in a “youth” subculture of esports and twitch feels like a takeover. Re: ongoing privatization trend--let me clarify, because you did not grasp what I said. Saudi Football teams are being privatized, they are being purchased by foreigners. Last month, the Harburg Group, led by a Travis Kalanik-lookin douche bag BEN HARBURG, officially bought Al Kholood Club of the Saudi Pro League. The Saudi league is getting slowly privatized. I get it, Saudi is not exactly running a New Mexico style yoga retreat over there, but where the hell was all this righteous anger (pre Ukraine 2022) when Russian billionaires were buyin’ up half the Premier League? Or when some hedge fund billionaire lizard from Connecticut guts your favorite baseball team for profit? Or when Tencent, literally the Chinese government with a different logo, buys Epic Games and Riot? Crickets. But the Saudis show up with a checkbook and suddenly every Dorito's eatin coors-light drinkin' tub of shit is a god-damn Amnesty International social worker. lol! Gimme a break! Re: --USAF. The US Air Force adverts are just the drop in the bucket. The US Army uses sports for recruitment, branding, morale building, and soft power. The entire NFL is a giant commercial for US army war-machine. They roll out a fighter jet flyover for a football game like YEA!! here’s a $100m in jet fuel. Enjoy your hot-dog! You know what's funny -- youre just tryin to play Call of Duty with your buddies, next thing you know some sergeant’s in the Twitch chat like, : Hey kid, you like headshots? Wanna try the real thing? Insane lol

2025-08-19 00:26

This is some real fallacy stuff happening here. In the context of the EWC it’s in Saudi, it’s not in Paris or anywhere else. Supporting one cause does not detract from supporting other causes and drawing attention to one injustice is not causing an injustice elsewhere. Learn some common sense and applying context. Though idk, if you’re just trolling or shilling ofc you’ll keep shouting the same rhetoric.

2025-08-19 22:10

Also, I remember when I was working in this sector, Amnesty International itself, touting itself as the human rights police around the world has abused its own workforce, and was accused of gender discrimination by its own former staff bbc.com/news/uk-48431652

2025-08-18 16:50

You're doing everything you can to defend the human rights abuses by Saudis. "I'm allowed to do it because he did it" is childlike mentality. Do you seriously think that all crimes are equal? Because that's what you are starting to imply with all these "but look what these guys did!" comments.

2025-08-18 16:52

Any abuse of human rights is deplorable and reprehensible, whether it is done by Saudi Arabia or whoever. If Saudi should be banned from hosting EWC, given the ongoing genocide and forced famine in Gaza is now widely recognized... shouldn't players from the country enforcing that genocide be banned as well? Your outrage is selective, it is directed towards Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries because you do not agree with their perspective on LGBTQIAA and Capital Punishment. Only Western Europeans and North Americans have this level of hypocrisy.

2025-08-18 17:13

My outrage is not selective. My original comment was about you comparing gambling and murder as if they are equal when they are not. You are right about the US Air Force. I didn't disagree with that. My problem was when you said this >if we're going to call out EWC we better have the balls to call out that the whole pro CS scene is basically sponsored by a gambling website and a neon-colored slot machine for 14-year-olds. Because underage gambling is minor league compared to what the Saudis do. You should have mentioned the US Air Force and Gaza aspect from the start, not comparing murder and gambling with each other.

2025-08-18 17:47

Thank you for sharing your view. I think I see where our impasse lies. In my view, from a utilitarian perspective, gambling and predatory practices informed by malicious AI, are more harmful to society than Capital punishment + murder. under-age gambling sponsorships have profound and hidden destructive effects right now and in the future that we can't even fucking measure and see yet: -1-Early Exposure and Normalization: me growing up playing cs 1.3 didn't see so much gambling sponsors. Now gambling is becoming a normalized, every day activity exposed to children very early. This early exposure shapes the perception that gambling is a harmless or that it involves some kind of skill -2-Addictive Behaviors: Gamba sponsorships often use flashy graphics, hero narratives, or in-game rewards that mimic gambling mechanics, which creates waiy pathway to early gambling addiction. -3-Financial Risk and Misjudgment--early exposure can lead to risky financial behavior, now and later on in lifeIt can encourage using money they can’t afford to lose, sometimes borrowing or spending from parents or peers. --Psychological Stress + Emotional Damage: Gambling breeds anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem when losses mount or if they feel unable to “win” like their role models loba and monesy -4-Sponsorships often glamorize winning while hiding losses, reinforcing unhealthy emotional patterns. -5- Impact on Academic and Social Development: Time and focus may shift from studies or healthy social interaction to gambling-related activities, like loot boxes and online games -6- Societal and Cultural Harm : already seeing see increased rates of juvenile gambling, family conflict, and financial strain even before legal adulthood. -7-Predatory Marketing Practices: gambling sponsors often use tactics specifically designed to hook young minds: flashy visuals, gamification, influencer promotion, and reward loops. -8- LONG-TERM Consequences: hidden cost is not just monetary, also emotional, educational, and behavioral, with ripple broader effects through families and communities, and society. so yes, in my view, lootbxes, gambling, and casino skins website propping up the scene, in my opinion, are a much more pressing and destructive problem than Saudi Arabia, with its human rights record, hosting the EWC.

2025-08-18 17:59

flameZ, NertZ, xertioN, Spinx are not in Netanyahu's war cabinet. They do not even necessarily support the actions of their government. MBS is literally the Chairman of ESL's board and it is being advertised that EWC was all his idea. He inherently supports the actions of his government because he decides which actions said government makes. If you can't see the difference between those two, you're beyond all hope. Then again, I just read your later comment about "gambling addiction is worse than the state arresting, torturing and/or murdering dissidents/journalists/LGBT people/women's activisits" so it's pretty clear you are incapable of looking at this matter from a humane perspective.

2025-08-20 01:21

thats really cool

2025-08-18 16:36

Prestigious xD

2025-08-18 15:11

respect to those who didn't accept the talent offer

literally everyone you see at every Tier1 event for Blast, ESL, etc. is here

2025-08-18 15:32

sjokz not interested to run around in a Niqab so she denied, lmao.

put sjokz in burqa now

2025-08-18 16:37

launders and scrawny W

2025-08-18 21:48

Excited for this! Huge tournament huge prize pool and all the teams are there (except Jijiehao :( )

2025-08-18 14:35

I will get a job if faze win EWC

Fuck this saudi oil money fest

16 replies

All hail IEM Cologne US Air Force and 1xbet gambling for teens fucking money. Crystal clean pure white Anglo-Saxon money

at least the anglo saxons aren't enslaving people rn

There are at least 136,000 modern slaves in Britain rn news.sky.com/story/uk-could-have-up-to-1.. rn in USA, 400,000+ people living in enslaved, forced labor conditions theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/19/us-mod..

2025-08-18 16:16

showing how bad non-saudi things are does not make the saudi things better, you do not have to take a side here you know

2025-08-19 13:00

You are right. But it does show the inconsistency of the outrage and the selective scrutiny that is tunnel-visioned on one particular side that happens to be Muslim/Arab.

2025-08-19 13:37

Saying "X is bad" does not also mean "and I support A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, etc." If you were praying at a mosque and I slammed open the door and said "WHY AREN'T YOU ALSO MENTIONING JESUS", that would be entirely inappropriate due to the context of the situation. Likewise, in a post about EWC, an event run by the Saudi PIF, owned by the state itself and chaired by the King of Saudi, it is entirely relevant and appropriate to mention the human rights record of that state, and it is entirely irrelevant to bring up the human rights records of every other country on Earth

2025-08-20 01:26

In Saudi the economy is based on state and public owned initiatives. Thats how that economy operates. It is a society based on tribes and an order that goes back over 1500 years. From a Western perspective, that is not good and we are not disposed to understanding it. Saudi is bad. Human rights record is bad. That does not preclude them for participating in esports development. In posts about IEM Dallas, where is the outrage about the US Army supporting COL, the US Army actively engaged in recruitment on twitch, in CS and COD? and where is the outrage whenthe US Air Force sponsors IEM Dallas in game tactical time outs? We in the US are the good guys I guess? The ones with a clean, Jesus, white human rights record? If you truly give a fuck about human rights and are consistent and not hypocritical, it is incumbent to scrutinize Dallas, Astana, and every other event's sponsors and hosts. Otherwise, saying human rights of every other country on earth is irrelevant demonstrates tunnel-visioned scrutiny on Arab/Muslim states. Just like we did for Qatar at the World Cup 2022.

2025-08-20 09:21

There's a difference between sponsorship and ownership, and if you can't see that, there's no point in arguing.

2025-09-04 01:15

In sports and e-sports business, sponsorship IS ownership. And in the case of cs2 - even the more so, as without gambling money and US Air Force endorsement, there is no cs2 to the level that it is big today. If you can't grasp that sponsorship ultimately implies ownership, then we are on the same page, there is indeed no point in deliberating further.

2025-09-04 10:20

I agree with your viewpoints here and wished more people said the same here but .... you doing alright ? also i dont know why but that flag and flair combo is a bit off. Why is a German rooting for a Middle Eastern team/Chinese org

2025-08-18 15:01

Could ask the same about yourself...

2025-08-18 15:26

well the flags would be switched in my case if there was a Pakistani flag flair

2025-08-18 15:38

Ah right, gotcha

2025-08-18 15:41

would love to see more Africans and more Middle Easterners doing well in the scene, getting more regional variety and success. Min1, Osamas, ISSAA, kumao <3

2025-08-18 15:51

i respect that. I was little taken back when boros decided to dip out of here though i have no idea why. We could have had a real middle eastern superteam with him there still.

2025-08-19 15:56

Losing BOROS was a huge loss for the team.BOROS has t1 level potential, wish it would have worked out better, but glad they tapped into the Kazakhstan talent pool

2025-08-19 18:15

best event of the year.

Navi b2b ewc

Anyway ez for tyloo

2025-08-18 14:40

No maui

2025-08-18 14:42

I'm ready!

Wait where is Richard Lewis for desk host? Anyone?

2025-08-18 14:56

#FuckEWC

#supportEWC

The USA will begin executing people in Washington DC bbc.com/news/articles/cly69112d2po Boycott t1 cs2 events in the US?

2025-08-26 22:37

single elimination bracket is a huge deal, flying out to a place just to play 2 maps and dip.

2025-08-18 15:03

These teams are getting 20k anyway

2025-08-18 15:18

this is also why I love this tournament, the single elimination bracket too is win or fuck off. No second chances. Do or die

2025-08-18 15:47

and 6 opening games in one day, fuck the organizer but the format is so good

2025-08-18 18:39

lmao the replies here i hate europeans and americans

2025-08-18 15:16

2025-08-18 15:27

You are swedish Bro Your country will not even exist in 100 years lol

2025-08-18 18:28

why are you crying? EU > SA

2025-08-18 19:40

prejudice, hypocrisy, racism, and ignorance coming predominantly from Western European and North American holier-than-thou Elon Musk-worshipping Mother Teresas. The same people that are using 18 liters of water in their fucking dishwashers to wash 3 forks and a dinner plate.

2025-08-18 15:50

kyousuke

2025-08-18 15:22

Navi cinema but yikes EWC

TYLOO go go go!

Y no dupreeh?

2025-08-18 15:44

yessss finally the sportswashing continues kinda shocked they let freya leave the hotel since u wont see any woman outside in saudi

2025-08-18 15:52

We have to think deeper about sports-washing and who is sports-washing whom. Sports-washing implies that the party guilty of sports-washing cares about what you think of them, and is seeking to repair a tarnished image. This is self-evident, but I can assure you that Saudi Arabia does not give a fuck what you think of them and their social policies. At all. They are major trading partners for us in Germany. They are investing in sports, e-sports, tourism, and other sectors of the global economy as a pragmatic strategy to move away from a fossil-fuel focused economy. Is the UK exporting its Premier League in Africa as a way to sportswash colonial legacy and abusive British Army soldiers in Kenya currently abusing sex workers? bbc.com/news/articles/czjmveemj7zo

2025-08-18 16:09

The Premier League was never conceived as a state-led soft power project; it grew into a commercial juggernaut and only afterward became useful as a diplomatic tool. Saudi investment in sport, on the other hand, is engineered from the top down as a calculated attempt to launder the country’s image and hardwire itself into the global cultural mainstream.

2025-08-20 23:53

Indeed, it appears there are different approaches to exercising control, shaping global opinion, and embedding influence. Let’s not kid ourselves that the Premier League is some innocent, grassroots fairy tale. Yes, it grew out of market forces and television deals rather than a centralized government plan, but that doesn’t make it any less political. It’s capitalism on steroids. That’s soft power too, it’s just dressed up in beer ads instead of government press releases. The Premier League became a soft power tool precisely because it commercialized itself so aggressively that it morphed into a cultural export, on par with Hollywood, and one of its effects is to distract populations from ongoing post-colonial legacies. Saudi investment is more top-down--sure--but both models are about power: one cloaked in the language of free markets--the other in state ambition. Saudis are just doing the same thing but without the polite mask. The Premier League pretends it’s authentic, Saudi Arabia’s like, “Nah, we’ll just cut the check.”

2025-08-21 09:40

Nice interview duo. Expected!

“ Falcons are currently leading the Club Championship ranking with 4700 points, with Liquid (4200) and Vitality (3750) rounding out the top three. Once EWC comes to an end, the most successful esports organization will earn a $7 million prize.” Someone explain pls?

2025-08-18 16:32

basically organizations get points and it counts every single game they enter, not just cs, but every game that is played at the event, this is why all these esports orgs scrambled to sign Chess players because it was added to ESWC and you get paid millions for participating in as many games that are featured there as you can to get more points, orgs literally make fat stacks just for signing players in any dead or niche game that is played there

2025-08-18 16:58

no transparency about the seeding system or how did they come with those matchups? LMAO I think there didn't even exist one I swear they hand-picked those brackets xD

2025-08-18 18:22

men wtf are these matchups, i don't get it

2025-08-18 22:35

Falcons leading the Bin Salman league rofl

2025-08-18 18:32

Give me a Grand Final of Vitality vs Spirit. FaZe please finish 3rd!

Why are Furia and Pain not here?

2025-08-18 19:14

so Day 1 matches start in 20.08 and 21.08, but Day 2 matches start in 20.08. Yes, all is clear:)

2025-08-18 19:19

What kind of rigged shit is ''Club Championship'' ? Falcons have attended like twice the amount of tournaments ahead of the other teams, obviously they're in the lead..

2025-08-19 08:35