Esports World Cup 2025 Club Championship results: Full breakdown and key takeaways

Team Falcons reigned supreme at the Esports World Cup Club Championship 2025 in Riyadh, securing the title for the second year running. Dismissed by some as a vanity ranking, the Club Championship is also emerging as a potential defining power index for esports organizations - whether they like it or not.

In this article we'll break down the biggest trends from 2025’s competition, the standout performances, and key takeaways from the summer’s flagship esports event. But first, a quick look at how the Club Championship point system actually works.

To acquire points a team must place top 8 in a given title's Esports World Cup tournament. A 1st place finish was worth 1,000 Points regardless of the game discipline.

To win the Club Championship, the organization must have won at least one event. To be eligible for ranking and prize pool they must have also placed top 8 in two Esports World Cup events.

In the event of an org having two players in the top 8 - for example Team Falcons' Alireza Firouzja and Hikaru Nakamura placing 2nd and 3rd for Chess - only the points from the highest placement were counted.

*6th to 8th place finishes for Warzone, PUBG: Mobile, PUBG PC, Free Fire, Apex Legends and Rennsport were worth less points (150, 100 and 50).

Falcons’ true weapon at the EWC 2025 wasn’t dominance in one title, but consistency across many. The organization competed in 22 of the 25 events. The only three events Team Falcons did not join were VALORANT, League of Legends and Honor of Kings. No other organization competed in as many events as Team Falcons.

At the Esports World Cup 2025, Team Falcons placed top 8 in 13 of the 22 tournaments. Falcons only claimed one title Overwatch 2. Yet, their consistency carried them. Eight top 4 finishes delivered 4,800 of their 5,200 points.

Outside of Overwatch 2, Team Falcons got silver in Dota 2 and Chess. Interestingly in Chess, Falcons actually got both silver and bronze, but only the 2nd place counted toward their EWC Club Championship.

Elsewhere Team Falcons' new star-studded Counter-Strike 2 roster, featuring both NIKo and m0NESY, placed 3rd in a very competitive event. Former G2 star m0NESY only joined the org in April 2025. Team Falcons also placed 3rd in Rocket League and PUBG: PC. Overall, Team Falcons' most impressive results based on the level of competition were in Chess, Counter-Strike and Dota 2.

Below is the final standings of the Club Championship 2025 including the prize money awarded for the top 20. The combined prize pool was $27,000,000.

For the second year in a row, Team Liquid finished runners-up. However, their Club Championship Points were significantly higher in 2025. Team Liquid won three Esports World Cup events to earn 3,000 of their 4,200 points. Their victories came in Chess, EA:FC and MLBB. For Chess they were represented by the illustrious Chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, but inconsistency elsewhere cost them gold.

Outside of a 3rd place finish in Starcraft 2, Team Liquid failed to do damage in other game disciplines to take over Team Falcons. Team Liquid finished outside of the top 8 in 6 of the 13 games they competed in. Proof that the Club Championship format definitely rewards consistency over glory.

Team Vitality finished just behind Team Liquid in 3rd place, having finished 4th in 2024. The French esports organization, similar to Team Falcons, only won one Esports World Cup event. Surprisingly it was not Counter-Strike 2 despite their incredible run of form since the last EWC. Team Vitality's 1st place came in the MLBB Women's Invitational (MWI) 2025, where they finished ahead of Gaimin Gladiators.

Frenchman Brice "Brice" Masson secured Vitality a 2nd place in EA:FC, while their pure Indonesian Free Fire squad placed 3rd. Elsewhere 4th place finishes in Tekken 8, Rocket League and Counter-Strike 2 racked up an extra 900 Club Championship Points.

Team Vitality 3rd place in the EWC Club Championship 2025 is particularly impressive given they only joined 11 of the 25 events, yet placed top 8 in 9 of them. This means Falcons played twice as many events as Vitality, yet the French side finished only 1,150 points behind them.

To spice things up I collected a handful of unique trivia from my research.

The Esports World Cup 2025 became the launching pad for many regional orgs to excel, with big names such as Natus Vincere (#32), Faze Clan (joint #103), Team BDS (joint #103) and T1 (#12) all falling out of the top 10.

Team Falcons, Team Vitality, Team Liquid and Gen.G were the only four esports organizations to place in the top 10 in both the 2024 and 2025 Club Championship.

One regional team to exceed expectations was Twisted Minds who finished joint 4th with Virtus Pro. The Saudi Arabian org managed to win two events at EWC 2025, Warzone and PUBG: PC. Another surprise was the rising Chinese org All Gamers placing 6th with victories in two regional specialties, Honor of Kings and Crossfire. However, it was their 2nd place finish in the League of Legends event that really caused a stir. Proof their 3rd place at the Mid-Season Invitational was no fluke.

When analysing the Club Championship 2025 final rankings, it is important to note that 40 of the participating organizations received up to $1 million in financial backing from the Esports World Cup Foundation as part of the Club Partner Program.

At EWC 2025, 19 of the 40 teams in the Club Partner program were new additions. For the inaugural Club Partner Program in 2024, only 30 teams were accepted.

The stipend was granted by the Esports World Cup Foundation in order to support well-known organization's ability to field teams in multiple disciplines. Over 200 teams applied to join the program for the EWC 2025.

As a result, many organizations began picking up players and teams in new games such as Tekken 8, MLBB, Street Fighter 6 and even Chess.

At Esports World Cup 2025, 70% of the top 20 teams were recipients of a cash injection via the 2025 Club Partner Program. A total of six esports organizations managed to place in the top 20 of the Club Championship despite not being part of the official Club Partner Program.

These were KuaiShou Gaming (9th place), DRX (10th), Aurora Gaming (11th), Team Heretics (13th), DetonatioN FocusMe (14th), and Al Qadsiah (20th).

The success of these non-partnered teams is proof there is a way, but as a result of the financial support imbalance, it's important to take the final standings of the Club Championship with a pinch of salt.

With the Esports World Cup to return next year, the question remains: will financial backing continue to define success, or can underdogs break through again?