The weekend of Week 5 of the Esports World Cup 2026 will see the winners of the Honor of Kings World Cup, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and Tekken tournaments crowned in Paris.
Three titles will be awarded at Week 5 in the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, as well as the group stages of Rainbow Six Siege and the PUBG Mobile World Cup 2026.
Additionally, there are Last Chance Qualifiers for Counter-Strike 2, Rocket League, and Chess, so we’ll tell you who made it through the LCQs when the main events of those titles start in Week 6 of EWC 2026. But before that, let’s take a closer look at the three trophies to be awarded at EWC Week 5.
OpTic look for CDL Championship redemption in Paris
All eyes will be on OpTic moving into the weekend as the defending champions look to reestablish their place at the top of competitive Call of Duty after a 2-5 loss in the Grand Final of the CDL Championship 2026.
The roster is sporting special 20th anniversary jerseys at EWC, evoking the team’s storied history in FPS games. This roster needs only to look at themselves to see champions, but FaZe and 100 Thieves will also be looking to back up 2026 LAN wins.
The event will close out the competitive year for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, so the teams will be highly motivated to leave it all out there and retain the bragging rights until the circuit starts again for CDL 2027.
The Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Grand Final will start at roughly 7:00 PM UTC/3 PM EDT on August 9.
Kuaishou Gaming looks to challenge AG.AL’s Honor of Kings dominance
AG.AL comes into the Honor of Kings World Cup playoffs as the dominant force in the game, winning the 2025 iteration of the event and going flawless in the group stage of EWC 2026 then defeating Aurora 4-0 to make the semi-finals.
Kuaishou Gaming boasts that same record, also going 8-0 so far at EWC 2026, backing up their King Pro League Spring 2026 title.
A Grand Final clash seems inevitable, but ROC and Geekay have proven to be resilient packages coming into their semi-final clashes with AG.AL and Kuaishou Gaming, respectively. Will there be an upset?
The Honor of Kings World Cup Grand Final will start at roughly 12:00 PM UTC/8:00 AM EDT on August 8.
Arslan Ash looks to add a missing piece to glittering career
Arslan ‘Arslan Ash’ Siddique has had one of the most storied careers in the Fighting Games Community, winning eight EVO titles from 2019-2026 to become the dominant force in Tekken.
However, the Esports World Cup has eluded him to a devastating degree, failing to make the playoffs in either of the iterations of the event in Riyadh.
In Paris, Ash will be hoping to change that, but he will do so in an extremely challenging field. Arslan Ash will only have to look at his compatriot and fellow Tekken legend, Atif ‘ATIF’ Ijaz to know that, after the shock elimination of the Pakistani in the first Group Phase.
ATIF’s loss was a blow to Falcons, but they still had three fighters progress. Arslan Ash and Hafiz Tanveer represent Twisted Minds at the event.
The Tekken 8 Grand Final will start at roughly 3:15 PM UTC/11:15 AM EDT on August 8.
Who do you see taking home the trophies at Week 5 of the Esports World Cup 2026? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
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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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