The group draw for the Esports World Cup 2026 have been announced: format and full tournament details
The organizers of the Esports World Cup 2026 have announced the group draw for the Dota 2 competition.
Group A
Group A will feature Xtreme Gaming, Team Falcons, BetBoom Team, GamerLegion, Rune Eaters, as well as the former Poor Rangers roster, which is registered for the tournament under the tag ZEDI Esports. The organization previously specialized in fighting game rosters, but made a splash in June of this year by signing a strong Apex Legends roster, and has now entered the Dota 2 pro scene.
The favorites in this group are Team Falcons and BetBoom Team, but Xtreme Gaming shouldn’t be counted out, despite inconsistent results in recent tournaments.
Group B
Group B will feature Aurora Gaming, Team Liquid, PlayTime, Nigma Galaxy, L1GA TEAM, and Level UP. The incredibly consistent Liquid and Aurora will most likely secure their spots in the main stage without much trouble. PlayTime and Nigma Galaxy are teams that could surprise us: they sometimes manage to advance deep into the tournament bracket. In particular, Nigma’s revamped roster performed exceptionally well in the qualifiers for The International.
Group C
Group C will feature PARIVISION, Team Spirit, MOUZ, Vici Gaming, Team Nemesis, and REKONIX. The clear favorite in the group is PARIVISION, but Team Spirit, which bolstered its roster ahead of the season’s key tournaments with the return of Miposhka as assistant coach, could give them a run for their money. The chances of making the playoffs for the remaining four teams are fairly even.
Group D
Group D features 1WIN Team (which signed the Tundra Esports roster), Team Yandex, OG, Virtus.pro, LGD Gaming, and Inner Circle. The group stage will likely be a walk in the park for 1WIN Team and Team Yandex, while Inner Circle will have the toughest time.
The South American roster LGD surprised everyone by finishing as runner-up at BLAST SLAM VII and is now considered a “dark horse” for the EWC, as is OG, which, with the joining of Raven, showed significantly more confident play in the qualifiers for The International.
Tournament format:
The Dota 2 championship as part of the Esports World Cup 2026 will take place during the first two weeks of the multi-game competition: from 06.07.2026 to 18.07.2026 in Paris, France. Twenty-four teams will compete for a prize pool of $2,000,000.
The group stage of the tournament will consist of two phases. In the first phase, teams will be divided into 4 groups of 6 teams each and will play a round-robin format with best-of-two (Bo2) matches.
The top team from each group advances to the playoffs. Teams finishing in 2nd–4th place in each group advance to the survival round, while the rest are eliminated from the tournament.
The championship’s playoff bracket is single-elimination with Bo3 matches, except for the Bo5 Grand Final.
Latest news on the Esports World Cup 2026:
- The new championship venue has been officially announced
- The CEO of the Esports Foundation explained why France was chosen as the new venue
- Results of the European qualifiers
- Results of the Chinese qualifiers
- Results of qualifiers in other regions
- Rune Eaters signed the Pipsqueak+4 roster
- Level UP signed the Two Move roster
by CyberScore