S-Tier CrossFire Tournament Kicks Off in Paris at Esports World Cup 2026 with a $2M Prize Pool

An S-Tier offline CrossFire tournament is taking place in Paris from August 18 to 22, 2026, as part of the Esports World Cup 2026 series. The event is organized by Esports Foundation, Smilegate, and Hero Esports. The total prize pool of the tournament is $2,000,000 USD.

The competition is divided into two main stages:

• Group Stage (August 18–20): 16 teams are divided into 2 groups of 8. The competition follows a GSL format with Bo3 matches. The top 4 teams from each group advance to the Playoffs.
• Playoffs (August 20–22): Single-Elimination bracket. Quarterfinal matches will be played in a Bo3 format, while the remaining matches will be Bo5.

In addition to the prize money, the tournament champion will grant an extra qualification slot for their region at CFS 2026.

Prize pool and EWC Club Points distribution:

• 1st place: $750,000 and 1,000 points
• 2nd place: $350,000 and 750 points
• 3rd place: $210,000 and 500 points
• 4th place: $130,000 and 300 points
• 5th–8th places: $75,000 and 200 points each
• 9th–12th places: $40,000 each
• 13th–16th places: $25,000 each
• MVP Award: The most valuable player of the tournament will receive $25,000.

A total of 82 esports athletes are participating in the tournament. China has the highest representation with 25 players (30%). This is followed by Vietnam with 17 players (21%), Brazil with 15 players (18%), Egypt with 13 players (16%), the Philippines with 10 players (12%), and Turkey with 2 players (2%).

Today, August 18, the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals are taking place. At 12:00 EEST, the matches between Team Vitality and Evolution Power, as well as ROC Esports against Team Nemesis, began.

At 14:00, the match between Team Falcons and Natus Vincere will take place. In addition, another Bo3 match was scheduled for 14:00, but it ended in a forfeit for Anubis Gaming. The team was unable to compete in the match against BaiSha Gaming due to travel issues, resulting in an automatic victory for BS.

NAVI qualified for the tournament by finishing 3rd in the CFBL Points standings. The Ukrainian organization's roster in this discipline is entirely represented by Brazilian players JV, Juan1, Lkk, Akxshi, and LcziN, with rsT serving as the head coach.

All CrossFire matches of the Esports World Cup 2026 will be broadcast live on the tournament's official YouTube channel.

As a reminder, Two Ukrainian Teams to Play at Logitech G Play Connect 2026