The Esports World Cup is down to its final fortnight as Week 6 of the event beckons in Paris. Four trophies will be awarded at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, while EWC’s concluding event will begin its group stage.
PUBG Mobile and Rainbow Six Siege will see winners crowned after their Week 5 Group Stages, while Rocket League and Chess will see Rapid formats as their main events start and finish in Week 6.
Counter-Strike 2’s tournament will also begin before it closes out EWC 2026 at the Accor Arena. See our full CS2 Tournament Guide here.
Rocket League at the Esports World Cup 2026
Dates: August 12-16
Prize pool: $1,025,000
1st place: $400,000
With the Rocket League World Championship coming up in September, the Esports World Cup is the perfect competitive preparation for the biggest event of the Rocket League calendar.
The field has a distinctly French narrative throughline as the teams prepare to fight it out in Paris. Axel ‘Vatira’ Touret has become the face of French esports at the event, taking part in the August 2 Esports Festival on the Champs-Élysées, but in the server is where the fans really want to see the Karmine Corp star.
In his way may be Vitality and Gentle Mates, as the rival French orgs of KC. Vitality especially, with Alexis ‘zen’ Bernier and Brice ‘ExoTiiK’ Bigeard will be looking to upset the blue wall and bring the trophy to Vitality’s offices in the French capital.
Or will it be Evan ‘M0nkey M00n’ Rogez again in Paris, after finishing runner-up at the RLCS 2026 Paris Major, who can perform in front of his home crowd and secure an important win for Twisted Minds?
Outside of the French civil war, NRG, SR, MIBR, FURIA, and Falcons will all believe that they can win a huge victory for their rosters, with NRG just a month away from defending their Worlds crown.
Rainbow Six Siege at EWC 2026
Playoffs: August 12-15
Prize pool: $2,000,000
1st place: $750,000 + Six Invitation 2027 slot
Only eight teams remain at the Rainbow 6 Siege Esports World Cup tournament as the playoffs are set to begin in Paris.
Falcons, M80, Enterprise, EDward Gaming, and Virtus.pro were among the teams to fall agonizingly short of the playoffs, but there are plenty of competitive rosters left as the playoffs approach.
Pre-tournament favorites, FaZe will face off against regional rivals Liquid in the quarter-finals, with Wildcard facing FURIA in the opposite side of the draw.
Geekay will be flying the EU flag against Team Secret, as the defending champions managed to find some form at a vital hour.
Meanwhile, DarkZero will hope to keep their momentum up as they enter the playoffs undefeated, facing Weibo Gaming for a shot at the semis in Paris.
The R6 Siege Playoffs EWC bracket is:
- Wildcard vs FURIA
- DarkZero vs Weibo Gaming
- FaZe vs Liquid
- Geekay vs Team Secret
Chess at the Esports World Cup 2026
Dates: August 11-15
Prize pool: $1,500,000
1st place: $250,000
After the Last Chance Qualifiers concluded, the qualified players still need to make it through the Play-In stage, which sees eight players fight for only two spots left for the group stage.
Two groups, in a double-elimination format, will lead to an eight-team single-elimination playoff bracket with a third/fourth place decider.
Magnus Carlsen will enter the group stage as the defending champion, defeating Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura, and Alireza Firouzja in the 2025 playoffs to claim the title.
The Norwegian will be the favorite again in the exciting 10-minute no-increment format that tests the players’ ability to manage both time and their nerves as the seconds slip away.
PUBG Mobile World Championship at EWC 2026
Survival Stage: August 11-12
Grand Final: August 14-16
Prize pool: $1,500,000
1st place: $250,000
The PUBG Mobile World Championship moves into its two-day Survival Stage before the three-day Smash Rule Match Point Grand Finals.
4Thrives, Aurora, Vitality, GodLike, Horaa, IDA, Nigma Galaxy, Orangutan, S2G, and Team Flash have already made the matchpoint finals, with six teams left to be decided from the Survival Stage.
Number 1 regional seeds such as FURIA, AG.AL, and Nongshim RedForce are amongst the teams left to fight for those few precious spots, with defending Champions Yangon Galacticos also in that group.
PUBG Mobile boasted the second-highest peak viewership at EWC 2025, with 1,289,269 peak viewers according to Esports Charts, so the mobile Battle Royale is sure to be popular as the enthralling Smash Rule comes into effect on Sunday.
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Also, see OpTic’s COD: Bo7 EWC victory, and for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter!
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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