PARIS: AG.AL claimed the Esports World Cup 2026 club championship and the $7 million top prize on Sunday, with French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman present at the closing ceremony.
Macron handed the trophy to AG.AL after the club topped the overall standings with 5,300 points, according to an organizer’s press release.
The Saudi crown prince, who also serves as prime minister, attended the event alongside Macron as the competition wrapped up its inaugural edition held outside Saudi Arabia.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (L) attend the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, on August 23, 2026. (Pool via Reuters)
The Paris tournament, staged from July 6 through August 23, gathered over 2,000 professional players representing 200 clubs from 100 nations. They competed in 25 events featuring some of the world’s most popular esports titles, contributing to a prize pool that surpassed $75 million—the largest ever assembled for an esports competition, organizers said.
The event attracted more than 850 million viewers across digital platforms worldwide, generating upwards of 440 million hours of watch time via content distributed in 47 languages, according to the organizers.
Ticket sales for esports competitions rose 94 percent compared with the previous edition, the organizers reported.
The presence of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman highlighted Saudi Arabia’s ongoing effort to develop gaming and esports as a pillar of its broader strategy to grow the Kingdom’s sports, entertainment and digital‑economy sectors.
“The continued support of HRH the Crown Prince has been instrumental in building the Esports World Cup into the global platform it is today,” said Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation, in the press release.
“Bringing EWC to Paris marks an important new chapter and demonstrates the strength of the model established in Saudi Arabia, while Riyadh remains its home,” he added.
Reichert congratulated AG.AL on what he described as an extraordinary victory and thanked Paris, the French government, partners and other stakeholders for enabling the first international edition of the tournament.
“Paris embraced the Esports World Cup and made it its own, proving that something created in Saudi Arabia can belong to fans everywhere,” he said.
The Paris edition represented a new stage in the evolution of the Esports World Cup, which was launched in Saudi Arabia as a cross‑game competition designed to crown the world’s top esports club across multiple titles.
The tournament was announced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2023 as a Saudi‑born initiative with global ambitions.
Riyadh hosted the inaugural Esports World Cup in 2024, followed by an expanded second edition in 2025. Paris became the first international city outside Saudi Arabia to stage the event in 2026, although organizers said Riyadh would remain the competition’s home and a central pillar of its long‑term strategy.
The Esports World Cup is an annual competition for elite esports clubs that brings together players, teams, game publishers and fans across numerous gaming titles. Its club‑championship format awards points for performances across different competitions, with the highest‑scoring club claiming the overall title.
The Esports World Cup Foundation has positioned the event as part of a broader effort to establish esports as a major global sport and entertainment platform.
With its third edition now complete, the competition aims to build on its Saudi origins and expand its international presence by using major world cities as hosts while keeping Riyadh as its long‑term base.
Organizers said the tournament also reflects Saudi Arabia’s wider ambition to create economic, professional and cultural opportunities around gaming and esports, and to transform the sector into a sustainable industry for younger generations.
AG.AL’s victory in Paris, capped by the trophy presentation by Macron in the presence of the Saudi crown prince, marked the conclusion of the Esports World Cup’s largest edition to date and its first step onto an international appearance beyond the Kingdom.
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