Esports Nations Cup 2026: Dates Announced for All Stages of the Dota 2 Tournament

The Dota 2 competition as part of the Esports Nations Cup 2026 will take place from 02.11.2026 to 08.11.2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 32 teams will compete for a prize pool of $1,864,000 ($1,500,000 are awarded as prize money while $364,000 are awarded as club incentives per player). The announcement was published on the event’s official website.

Eighteen teams will receive direct invitations to the tournament, including two wildcard spots. Another 14 teams will qualify for the championship through qualifiers, which will take place from 29.06.2026 to 02.07.2026 across eight regions.

The group stage of the tournament will be played in a round-robin format with four groups of eight teams, with matches played in a Bo1 format. The top four teams from each group will advance to the playoffs, which will feature a single-elimination bracket. Playoff series, with the exception of the grand final, will be played in a Bo3 format, and the champion will be determined in the grand final in a Bo5 format.

As a reminder, on June 3, all rosters for the national Dota 2 championship were announced, and a list of all participants in the qualifiers was published.

As previously reported by CyberScore, the Esports Nations Cup 2026 has restricted the participation of the Russian and Belarusian national teams.