Esports World Cup Announces Club Partner Program For 2025

Following a successful inaugural year in 2024, the Esports World Cup has confirmed it will return in 2025 and has also announced a scheme called the Club Partner program which looks to improve esports all around the globe and create a sustainable ecosystem for the scene to thrive. 

The Esports World Cup was a club-focused tournament with even the fighting game tournaments typically fought under teams looking for glory. This saw a slew of signings of FGC players to clubs for the tournament. 

In this new scheme, the Esports World Cup has promised up to $20 million in funding annually to up to 40 clubs. 

In their pitch, the EWC stated that they will select 8 clubs with the remaining 32 having to grab a slice of the pie through an application process which will investigate the club's reach, fanbase, performance and so on. 

According to the EWC website, this is a way to create a sustainable environment for the growth of esports and the growth of EWC's visibility. 

Among their requirements from clubs is a social media presence and engagement with fans worldwide. This seems to be a means to curry favor with general society and improve the EWC's public approval. 

For the FGC this could potentially mean that clubs will be looking to sign players for the EWC again, but with funding for sustainability, they might be more likely to keep such players in the long term rather than the marriage of convenience we saw a lot of during the 2024 EWC where players were signed and more or less dropped immediately the event was over. 

There is still some skeptism over the EWC, but the longer they stay present in the esports scene, the more legitimized they will ultimately become.