{"id":17876,"date":"2026-05-22T05:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/2026\/05\/22\/esports-world-cup-paris-lands-esports-world-cup-worlds-biggest-gaming-event-moved-from-saudi-arabia-amid-war-concerns-esports-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T05:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:06:09","slug":"esports-world-cup-paris-lands-esports-world-cup-worlds-biggest-gaming-event-moved-from-saudi-arabia-amid-war-concerns-esports-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/?p=17876","title":{"rendered":"Esports World Cup: Paris lands Esports World Cup: World\u2019s biggest gaming event moved from Saudi Arabia amid war concerns | Esports News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-131256459,imgsize-64430,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/esports-world-cup.jpg\" alt=\"Paris lands Esports World Cup: World\u2019s biggest gaming event moved from Saudi Arabia amid war concerns\" title=\"Ralf Reichert, head of the Saudi-based Esports Foundation, with French President Emmanuel Macron. (Pic credit: Esports Foundation)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Ralf Reichert, head of the Saudi-based Esports Foundation, with French President Emmanuel Macron. (Pic credit: Esports Foundation)\">Ralf Reichert, head of the Saudi-based Esports Foundation, with French President Emmanuel Macron. (Pic credit: Esports Foundation)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The world\u2019s biggest esports tournament will be staged in Paris this summer after organisers shifted the event from Riyadh due to concerns surrounding the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"2\"\/>The 2026 edition of the Esports World Cup will run from July 6 to August 23 and feature a staggering prize pool of more than $75 million, making it the richest esports competition ever held.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/>More than 2,000 players representing 200 clubs from around the globe are expected to compete across 24 major gaming titles, including League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"6\"\/> <span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"9\"\/> <span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Why the tournament was moved<\/span><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"12\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"13\"\/>The competition, backed by Saudi Arabia\u2019s sovereign wealth fund and launched in 2024, had previously been hosted in Saudi Arabia for its first two editions. <!-- -->Riyadh was initially expected to stage the tournament again in 2026.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/>However, organisers admitted that regional instability forced a rethink.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"20\"\/>Ralf Reichert, head of the Saudi-based Esports Foundation, said the geopolitical situation created major uncertainty around travel and logistics for participating teams and players.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"22\"\/>According to Reichert, concerns over whether competitors could safely and smoothly travel to the region within the required timeframe played a major role in the decision to relocate the event.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"25\"\/> <\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Esports World Cup\" msid=\"131256469\" width=\"\" title=\"\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" imgsize=\"\" resizemode=\"4\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-131256469\/esports-world-cup.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"28\"\/> <span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Macron celebrates \u2018historic first\u2019<\/span><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"31\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"32\"\/>French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the announcement enthusiastically, calling it \u201ca historic first and an honour\u201d for France.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"34\"\/>Macron also thanked Saudi Arabia for its trust while expressing confidence that Paris would successfully host the global esports spectacle.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"36\"\/>Officials believe the tournament could provide a major tourism boost to the Paris region, with thousands of players, staff members and fans expected to arrive during the seven-week event.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"38\"\/>Despite the temporary move, organisers indicated the long-term plan remains to rotate the competition between global cities, with the tournament expected to return to Riyadh in 2027.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"40\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/esports\/news\/paris-lands-esports-world-cup-worlds-biggest-gaming-event-moved-from-saudi-arabia-amid-war-concerns\/articleshow\/131256304.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ralf Reichert, head of the Saudi-based Esports Foundation, with French President Emmanuel Macron. (Pic credit: Esports Foundation) The world\u2019s biggest esports tournament will be staged in Paris this summer after organisers shifted the event from Riyadh due to concerns surrounding the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.The 2026 edition of the Esports World Cup will&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}