Esports Nations Cup 2026: postponed to November 2027, still in Riyadh, with $45 million and 16 games

The national-team esports tournament planned for this November has moved a full year. Here’s what happened to the Esports Nations Cup 2026, when and where it takes place, which games it has and what it pays.

Is the Esports Nations Cup 2026 still happening?

No. On Aug. 18, 2026, the Esports Foundation, the non-profit that runs the event, postponed the first Esports Nations Cup, or ENC, from November 2026 to November 2027. The 2026 edition was set for Nov. 2 to 29 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as a four-week festival.

The organizer said the decision followed its ongoing assessment of the wider regional situation and consultation with key stakeholders. It said the event’s international scale, with teams from more than 100 countries and territories, made a move to 2027 the responsible choice, and that Saudi Arabia remains fully capable of hosting events. “The decision to postpone the Esports Nations Cup was not taken lightly,” said chief executive Ralf Reichert.

Esports Nations Cup 2027 dates and location

The first ENC stays in Riyadh and moves to November 2027, but the Esports Foundation hasn’t announced exact dates. Expected dates: about Nov. 1 to 28, 2027. That’s our estimate, not an official schedule, based on the 2026 plan, which ran four weeks from the first Monday of November.

After Riyadh, the organizer plans to hold the ENC every two years in a different host city. It describes the event as a complement to the club-based Esports World Cup, whose next edition our Esports World Cup 2027 page covers.

Esports Nations Cup games

The ENC has 16 games: Apex Legends, chess on Chess.com, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, EA Sports FC, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, PUBG: Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile, Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League, Street Fighter 6, Trackmania and Valorant. The organizer says the lineup may change from one edition to the next.

Team games have between 24 and 48 nations, with one team per nation, and solo games have between 32 and 128 players, with at most two per nation. The Counter-Strike 2 event was planned with 24 national teams in four groups of best-of-one matches, followed by a 16-team, single-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches. For the club version of the game, our CS2 Major in Singapore page has the dates.

Esports Nations Cup prize pool

The Esports Foundation lists $45 million committed to the event: $20 million in prize money for players and coaches, $5 million in incentives for the clubs that release their players and a $20 million development fund for national team programs. It said on Aug. 18 that all development fund commitments stay in place despite the delay.

Prize money is the same per person for each placement in every game. A title win pays $50,000 to each player and coach, which comes to $300,000 for a team of five players and a coach, and second place pays $30,000 each. Clubs get an extra 40% of what their players earn once those players finish in the top 16, paid on top of the players' prize money rather than out of it.

What happens to the teams that already qualified

Qualifying had already started before the postponement. The organizer had named a field of 24 national teams for Counter-Strike 2, from regional qualifiers with more than 15,000 players, and 32 nations for Dota 2, including a United States lineup with SumaiL, Sneyking and Quinn Callahan. It had also announced rosters for PUBG: Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile and Street Fighter 6.

The Esports Foundation hasn’t said whether those teams keep their places in 2027. On Aug. 18, it said it would work with National Team Partners, publishers and other stakeholders over the following weeks to clarify the revised calendar, qualification pathways and other effects of the new timeline. Its news page had no update on that as of Oct. 18.

How players get picked

More than 100 countries and territories have a National Team Manager, who picks national coaches, and those coaches build the rosters. Countries without one get a regional manager appointed by the organizer. Counter-Strike 2 and Apex Legends use open qualifiers instead, so any eligible roster can sign up, and solo games use rankings or open regional qualifiers. A full club roster can’t play as a national team, and in Counter-Strike 2 a national team can have no more than three players from the same club.

Adidas makes the jerseys for every national team, and France’s was the first one revealed, with French streamer Kameto as the team’s ambassador.

This page is updated as soon as the Esports Foundation announces exact dates or a qualification plan for the Esports Nations Cup 2027.