Esports World Cup 2026 - Betting Picks & Predictions
Esports World Cup 2026 predictions and betting picks
The Esports World Cup 2026 is a major Esports event you can bet on, with the world’s leading Esports teams across multiple games brought together to battle it out for the overall club championship title! A record-breaking $75 million is available to be won across individual game championships and the Club Championship.
You can bet on the EWC 2026 tournaments right here at Stake Sportsbook. Read through our guide, as we share expert tips, betting strategies and Esports World Cup predictions.
We will also cover outright winner picks, live betting and the teams to watch to provide you with the best EWC betting experience as you wager at Stake!
Honor of Kings EWC 2026 predictions
The Honor of Kings World Cup takes place this summer, in an event typically dominated by Chinese teams. However, this will be the first time entrants from India, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan have entered the tournament. Top teams in professional Honor of Kings will compete between the 30 July and 8 August with teams battling for a $3.02 million prize pool. AG.AL are the defending champions going into the tournament.
Honor of Kings World Cup winner prediction
AG.AL International is our pick to win the Honor of Kings World Cup. The tournament is usually dominated by Chinese King Pro League (KPL) teams, and AG.AL International won the KPL Grand Finals in 2025. They’re also the current defending champions, having won the Honor of Kings World Cup 2025.
Honor of Kings teams to watch
Kuaishou Gaming are a major contender at the Honor of Kings World Cup. They recently won the KPL Spring tournament, and last year came 5th-6th at the KPL Grand Finals. They enter this tournament in the group stage, giving them an advantage.
NS RedForce is our dark horse pick. The South Korean team has to enter through the play-in stage. They only achieved a finish of 11th-14th at last year’s Honor of Kings World Cup, but recently finished runners-up at the Honor of Kings Invitational Season 4.
Rainbow Six Siege EWC 2026 predictions
Rainbow Six Siege is a part of the 2026 Esports World Cup, with 22 teams competing in the first-person shooter event between 4-15 August. A $2 million prize pool is waiting to be shared out between the top teams, and the R6 Siege World Cup champions also qualify for the Six Invitational 2027.
Rainbow Six Siege winner prediction
Team Falcons are our picks to win the Rainbow Six Siege tournament at the Esports World Cup. They just won the Europe MENA League - Stage 1 and finished 3rd at the Six Invitational 2026. Last season they also finished first in the Europe MENA Regional Finals, although they had a bad performance at the 2025 EWC. They have a highly experienced roster, and we’re predicting that they’ll do better than last year following the addition of jume.
They have a deeper map pool than most contenders as they enter the tournament with strong recent LAN results. Their ability to win long best-of-three series makes them an attractive outright selection.
Rainbow Six teams to watch
Team Secret are one of the top contenders at this event, having won last year’s Esports World Cup and finishing as runners-up at the 2026 Six Invitational. Our Rainbow Six predictions have them as one to watch.
FaZe Clan were declared champions of the 2026 Six Invitational, taking home $1 million in prize money. They have a talented roster with experience of winning major tournaments and will be looking to improve on last year’s 9th-12th finish at the EWC.
DarkZero may not be a betting favourite, but they’re one of the teams to watch at this year’s EWC. Fresh from their 1st-place finish at the BLAST R6 Major in Salt Lake City, they have the ability to perform at the highest level.
Call of Duty Black Ops 7 EWC 2026 predictions
Call of Duty Black Ops 7 is the second EWC - CoD tournament featured at this summer’s Esports World Cup. The tournament features 16 teams, which compete over 2 stages: a group stage and playoffs, to win a share of the $1.8 million prize pool.
Matches are played over several game modes including Hardpoint, Overload and Search and Destroy. The pre-match map veto process allows teams the chance to remove maps and game modes they want to avoid, with alternating picks and bans. The tournament is held between 5 and 9 August. OpTic Gaming are the defending champions.
Black Ops 7 winner prediction
FaZe is our EWC pick in the Call of Duty Black Ops 7 tournament. They’re the current outright betting favourites having just won the CDL Championship 2026. They have a relatively simple path to the playoffs through the upper bracket semifinals of the group stage.
The top player at FaZe, Simp, is no less effective following the departure of aBeZy. He’s complemented by the addition of 04, who, along with Drazah and Abuzah, make FaZe the team to beat. FaZe also has strong plays across all maps, which is a major advantage in a tournament where matches are played to the best of 5 or best of 7 games.
Black Ops 7 teams to watch
OpTic Gaming are the 2nd favourites to win the tournament as the defending champions, and our Call of Duty predictions have them challenging for the title. They made the recent CDL Championship final, where they were beaten 5-2 by FaZe. However, they won the 2026 Call of Duty League regular season and the Stage 4 Major.
100 Thieves are 3rd favourites to win the tournament. They compete in the Call of Duty League as LA Thieves and finished 7th-8th in this year's CDL 2026 playoffs. However, they finished runners-up in the regular season and won the Stage 3 Major. However, they’ll likely face OpTic Gaming in the upper bracket semifinals, meaning there’s a good chance that they’ll need to progress through the lower bracket semifinal to reach the playoffs.
Gentle Mates are the 4th favourites to win this event. They earned an invite based on their 4th place finish at the 2026 CDL Championship playoffs, competing as Paris Gentle Mates. Earlier in the year, they won the Stage 1 Major, beating OpTic in the final. Our EWC predictions are for them to finish in the top positions.
Counter-Strike 2 EWC 2026 predictions
The Counter-Strike 2 tournament is the Grand Finale of this summer’s Esports World Cup. Featuring 32 teams, it features 2 stages and a prize pool worth $2 million. Matches take place between 12 and 23 August. The group stage and playoffs are held at the Paris Expo Porte de Versaille, while the Accor Arena in Paris hosts the final day. The MongolZ are the current defending champions and will be taking part, along with our Stake partners Astralis and Team Vitality.
Counter-Strike 2 winner prediction
Team Vitality are our outright winner picks for the CS2 tournament at the 2026 EWC. The back-to-back Grand Slam winners also won 5 S-tier tournaments this season, and are the betting favourites to add another title to their collection here. Although their form has dropped off in their last 2 tournaments, they still have the strongest roster in the competition, with apEX and ZywOo standing out. They have excellent performances across all maps in the map pool, and will have the support of the home crowd too.
CS2 dark horse and teams to watch
Team Spirit are the 2nd favourites to win the tournament based on their opening odds. Right now, they’re the highest-ranked team based on their VRS, with a win at PGL Astana and runners-up finishes at BLAST Bounty Summer and IEM Rio in 2026. Our Counter-Strike 2 predictions have them challenging for the championship.
Team Falcons are ranked #2 in the global VRS rankings. They’re also 3rd favourites to win the CS2 tournament at the EWC. This year, they finished runners-up in 3 S-tier tournaments before winning the IEM Cologne Major. Our CS2 predictions give them a great chance of winning here, as their team has plenty of playoff experience in major LAN Finals.
Natus Vincere, also known as NAVI, are currently joint 4th favourites to win. The Ukrainian team won the ESL Pro League Season 23 and IEM Atlanta this year and are #6 in the Valve Regional Standings.
MOUZ aren’t one of the top favourites, but they’re a dark horse pick and certainly one to watch. They just won the BLAST Bounty Summer tournament and previously came 3rd at PGL Astana and the CS Asia Championships this year. However, they’re ranked 3rd in the world based on their current VRS points.
Astralis are outside the top 10 favourites according to the tournament’s opening odds. However, they’re our CS2 picks to surprise the oddsmakers and finish in the top positions. They have a talented roster, and this year they’ve most recently finished 3rd-4th at the BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 tournament.
EWC 2026 Club Championship prediction
Teams earn Club Championship points through results across multiple game titles, which makes strength across several esports more important than success in a single tournament. At the end of the tournament, the team with the most points is declared the champion.
This championship also offers a record-breaking $30 million prize pool, with $7 million going to the champions.
Team Falcons are currently leading the Club Championship standings following strong finishes in MLBB, PUBG, Dota 2 and more. Their best performance so far was the championship win in Street Fighter 6. They also have teams qualified for upcoming events in Black Ops 7, Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege and CS2.
Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro, AG.AL International and Team Vitality are behind Team Falcons in the standings, but still have a chance to win the competition. Natus Vincere won FF: CotW and also had strong performances in MLBB Women’s and PUBG. Meanwhile, Virtus.pro won the PUBG tournament, while Team Vitality won MLBB Women’s.
The run-in arguably favours Team Falcons and Team Vitality, who both have the most qualified teams remaining to compete in events at the EWC. Team Vitality are favourites to win the CS2 tournament on the final day of the Esports World Cup, which could decide the Club Championship winner.
Where to bet on the Esports World Cup 2026
Stake offers full coverage of the 2026 Esports World Cup, with live betting and outright markets on every tournament, including the Club Championship. We’ve also got plenty of exclusive sports betting promotions for you to enjoy, as well as our Stake VIP Club that rewards you for placing bets. Make sure you sign up and follow our responsible betting guidelineswhile using our betting tips to stay Stake Smart.