Esports World Cup crowns champions in Paris after Riyadh move

The Esports World Cup ended in Paris on Sunday with China-based AG.AL winning the $7 million Club Championship. The event was moved from Riyadh because the regional conflict created serious travel and visa difficulties for players, staff and gaming executives.

French Trackmania player Gwendal “Gwen” Duparc secured the overall title for AG.AL by winning the final. He only needed to finish third or higher, but his victory also delivered him $130,000 and prevented Saudi Arabia’s Team Falcons from claiming the Club Championship for a third successive year.

The Paris edition lasted seven weeks and brought together more than 2,000 players from 200 clubs and over 100 countries. Competitors took part in 25 tournaments across 24 games, while organisers said 175,000 tickets were sold, a 94 per cent increase on the 2025 event.

French President Emmanuel Macron presented AG.AL with the Club Championship trophy at the closing ceremony, which was also attended by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The relocation provided French organisations with a home tournament after the competition had originally been scheduled for Riyadh.

Team Vitality retained the women’s Mobile Legends title, the only all-women’s competition on the programme. In Fortnite Reload, 19-year-old Taylor-Petrik “vic0” Gatschelhofer and 20-year-old Danila “Malibuca” Iakovenko won the championship and $260,000, becoming the first duo to win consecutive major in-person tournaments in the game.

BaiSha Gaming completed its return from defeat in the 2025 Esports World Cup final by taking the CrossFire title. The Chinese team beat defending champions AG.AL before defeating Team Liquid 3-0 in the final. Organisers are scheduled to take the Esports World Cup back to Riyadh in 2027, while the Esports Nations Cup has been postponed from this November to next year.