Complexity among invited teams to Esports World Cup

The Esports World Cup, to take place in Riyadh this summer, has announced the nine invited teams to the event, with seven more to earn spots through various qualifiers.

Two slots went to the winners of the most prestigious events this year, Spirit and NAVI for Katowice and the Major respectively. As for regional invitations, Complexity received the North American invite, FURIA received the South American invite, and FaZe picked up the European invite. These invites are determined off ESL World Ranking, with the last four, G2, Vitality, MOUZ, and Virtus.Pro completing the list from the global ranking.

For Complexity specifically, this event drops right into a busy season, starting on July 17th, just a month after ESL Challenger Jönköping 2024 concludes, book-ending the NA team's player break. Although we do not know the full schedule of the Esports World Cup, BLAST Fall Groups starts just nine days after the EWC begins, cementing the team's breakneck schedule.

This event has a strange format, with fourteen teams playing in the group stage. These fourteen teams will play one best-of-three each, with the winners moving on to the playoffs and losers going to the last-chance bracket, where they will be joined by a local hero. Those eight teams will duke it out in a best-of-one single-elimination Resurrection Bracket, with the victor taking the last playoff spot. With all eight playoff teams decided, they will play a single-elimination best-of-three bracket to determine the champion.

Although the full dates and prize pool have yet to be announced, the Esports World Cup will take place in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, which has invested billions in traditional and electronic sports in what critics call "sportswashing". Saudi Arabia has been criticized for its historic and ongoing mistreatment of the LGBTQ+ community, women, religious and ethnic minorities, among others, and its reactionary and regressive positions on human rights.

Qualifiers for North American teams will begin on April 16th and sign-ups are open.

The team list for the Esports World Cup is: