| Electronic Sports World Convention | |
| Sport: | Esports |
| Game: | Call of Duty |
| Founded: | 2003 |
| Country: | France |
| Continent: | Europe |
| Folded: | 2016 |
The Electronic Sports World Convention (ESWC) (formerly known as Electronic Sports World Cup) was an international professional gaming championship. Every year, winners of national qualifier events around the world earned the right to represent their country in the ESWC Finals.
The ESWC was originally created by a French company, Ligarena, that had previously hosted smaller local area network (LAN) events in France under the name of LAN Arena. In 2003, Ligarena decided to do something on a larger scale and the ESWC was born. In 2005, Ligarena became Games-Services.
In 2009, ESWC was bought by another French company, Games-Solution, which became the owner of the brand.
In 2012, Oxent, an agency specialising in electronic sports, acquired the ESWC.[1]
The grand finals and masters of ESWC have had a total prize purse of €1,721,000 between 2003 and 2010.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
In October 2023, the ESWC brand was acquired by the Esports World Cup Foundation.[11]
The first Electronic Sports World Cup was held in 2003 with a total of 358 participants from 37 countries and a prize purse of €150,000.[12] To participate in the tournament, competitors had to place in their country's national qualifier.[13] By 2006, the event had grown to 547 qualified participants from 53 countries and had a prize purse of $400,000 US.[14] The event also featured the first competition with a game specifically made for it: TrackMania Nations.
The 2003 ESWC saw around 150,000 players narrowed down to just 358 players, from 37 different countries, who attended the finals at the Futuroscope near Poitiers in France. The total prize fund for the event was €156,000.
| 2003 | 4th | |||
| Counter-Strike[15] |  team9 |  zEx | SK Gaming* |  GoodGame |
| [16] | Alborz "HeMaN" Haidarian | Fredrik "MaDFroG" Johansson | Antoine "FaTC" Zadri | Yoan "ToD" Merlo |
| Unreal Tournament 2003[17] | Christian "GitzZz" Hoeck | Björn "zulg" Sunesson | Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendell | Aaron "Lotus" Everitt |
| Quake 3 |  Anton "Cooller" Singov | John "ZeRo4" Hill | Alexey "LeXeR" Nesterov | Pelle "fazz" Söderman |
| Counter-Strike Female | SK Gaming | Femina Bellica | Denmark Girls | To Hell Angels |
The 2004 finals were once again held at the Futuroscope. Roughly 400 finalists, from 41 countries, attended to compete for a €210,000 prize purse.[18]
| 2004 | 4th | ||||
| Counter-Strike[19] | Titans | spiXel | Virtus.pro | The Stomping Grounds | |
| [20] |  Dae Hui "FoV" Cho | Fredrik "MaDFroG" Johansson | Alborz "HeMaN" Haidarian | Chun "Sweet" Jung Hee | |
| Unreal Tournament 2004[21] | Maurice "BurningDeath" Engelhardt | Christian "GitzZz" Hoeck | Laurens "Lauke" Pluijmakers |  Nicola "Forrest" Geretti | |
| Quake 3[22] | Sweden | United States | Russia |  Belarus | |
| Counter-Strike Female[23] | Team all 4 one |  Ladies.AMD |  New4 | eibo | Les Seules |
| Pro Evolution Soccer 3[24] | Samad "Samsam" Baism | Marcel "Xside" Waulke | Chen Zhiliang | Wang Zaoxing | |
| Painkiller[25] | Alessandro "Stermy" Avallone | Michael "Dr.Moerser" Froese | |||
In 2005, the venue was moved to a larger facility: The Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. The total prize payout was again raised - this time to €300,000.
| 2005 | 4th | |||
| Counter-Strike[26] | compLexity | SK Gaming* | Mousesports | Lunatic-hai |
| Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne[27] | Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen | Andrey "Deadman" Sobolev | Seo Woo "ReiGn" Kang | Li "Sky" Xiaofeng |
| Unreal Tournament 2004[28] | Michael "winz" Bignet |  Markus "Falcon" Holzer | Laurens "Lauke" Pluijmakers | Michele "DevilMC" Esposito |
| Quake 3[29] | Anton "Cooller" Singov | Paul "czm" Nelson | Magnus "fojji" Olsson | Jason "socrates" Sylka |
| Counter-Strike Female[30] | Girls Got Game | Ladies.AMD |  x6tence.AMD | Beat off The Best |
| Pro Evolution Soccer 4 |  Badr "ArabianJoker" Hakeem |  Mike "Mike" Moreton | Raúl "Legre" Alegre | "Zhao_Hang" |
| Gran Turismo 4[31] | Pierre "Snake" Lenoire | Thibault "Carter" Lacombe | Arnaud "Lucky" Lacombe | Jean-Philippe "Phenicks" Lacombe |
*SK-Gaming's, secondary, Danish squad
The 2006 event took place at the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy and the total prize payout was approximately €300,000.
| 2006 | 4th | |||
| Counter-Strike[32] | Made in Brazil | fnatic | aTTaX | Team3D |
| Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne[33] | Jae Wook "Lucifer" Noh | Ivica "Zeus[19]" Markovic | Li "Sky" Xiaofeng | Zdravko "Insomnia" Georgiev |
| Quake 4[34] | Michael "winz" Bignet | Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky | Ivo "Forever" Lindhout | Anton "Cooller" Singov |
| Counter-Strike Female[35] | Beat off the Best | Les Seules | Hacker Victory | SK Gaming* |
| Pro Evolution Soccer 5[36] | Bruce "Spank" Grannec | Moustafa "Myto" Menadi |  Yasin "Jinxy" Koroglu | Song "Song" Xianzhi |
| Gran Turismo 4[37] | Pierre "Snake" Lenoire | Thibault "Carter" Lacombe | Arnaud "Lucky" Lacombe |  Daniel "Holl01" Holland |
| Trackmania Nations[38] | Dorian "Carl" Vallet | Manuel "Baiy000r" Baier | Pascal "gaLLo" Jäger | Adrien "Dridrione" Auxent |
The 2007 ESWC took place at the Paris expo Porte de Versailles, Paris, from July 5 to July 8. There was a complete expo for this event, called "Mondial du Gaming" (World of Gaming).
750 finalists, from 51 countries, competed for a prize purse of $180,000 US.
| 2007 | 4th | |||
| Counter-Strike |  PGS.PokerStrategy.com | Team NoA | fnatic * | Made in Brazil |
| Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne | Lee Sung "SoJu" Duk |  Olav "Creolophus" Undheim | Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen | Jun "Lyn" Park |
| Quake 4 | Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski | Anton "Cooller" Singov | Michael "winz" Bignet | Mikael "PURRI" Tarvainen |
| Counter-Strike Female | SK Gaming ** | EHONOR | Be The Best | Unfinished |
| Pro Evolution Soccer 6 | Sven "S-Butcher" Wehmeier | Bruce "Spank" Grannec | Mike "El Matador" Linden |  Almeida "Bubaloo" Jorge |
| Trackmania Nations | Freek "XenoGear" Molema | Dorian "Carl" Vallet | Simon "Lign" Ferreira | Charles "selrahc37" Devillard |
Leaving France for the first time, the 2008 Electronic Sports World Cup took place in San Jose, California, USA,[39] from August 25 to August 27 during the bigger "NVISION 08" event. The disciplines announced were: Counter-Strike (open and female), Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Trackmania Nations Forever, Defense of the Ancients and, Quake 3.[40] Pro Evolution Soccer was not included because the global Konami authority had not given its support to the competition.[41] The prize purse was approximately $200,000 US.
| 2008[42] | 4th | |||
| Counter-Strike | PGS.MYM (NEO, TaZ)[43] | eSTRO | fnatic | Mousesports |
| Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne | Du-Seop "WhO" Chang | Li "Sky" Xiaofeng | Zhuo "TeD" Zeng | Seo Woo "ReiGn" Kang |
| Quake 3 | Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky | Marcel 'K1llsen' Paul | Shane "Rapha" Hendrixson | Fan "Jibo" Zhibo |
| Counter-Strike Female | SK Gaming | emuLate | EHonor | MeetYourMakers |
| Trackmania Nations | Kalle "Frostbeule" Moertlund Videkull | Freek "XenoGear" Molema | Simon "Lign" Ferreira | Dorian "Carl" Vallet |
| Defense of the Ancients |  Zenith |  KingSurf |  MeetYourMakers | Evil Geniuses |
In place of the ESWC, the "Masters of Paris" was held from July 4 to July 6, during the "Mondial du Gaming", taking place at the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy. The same disciplines took place during this Masters and offered additional qualifying slots for ESWC Grand Final in San Jose. All winners won a slot to participate in the ESWC Grand Final, and hotel accommodation in San Jose, free of charge.
| 2008 Masters of Paris | 4th | |||
| Counter-Strike | Mortal Teamwork | fnatic | Mousesports |  Roccat |
| Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne | Jae Ho "Moon" Jang | Li "Sky" Xiaofeng | Yoan "ToD" Merlo | Du-Seop "WhO" Chang |
| Quake 3 | Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky | Magnus "fox" Olsson | Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski | Fan "Jibo" Zhibo |
| Counter-Strike Female | Les Seules | SK Gaming | Emulate | forZe |
| Trackmania Nations | Simon "Lign" Ferreira | Freek "XenoGear" Molema | Kalle "Frostbeule" Mörtlund Videkull | Pedro "Moriah" Benjamin |
| Defense of the Ancients | SK Gaming | The Elder Gods | MeetYourMakers | Evil Geniuses |
"Masters of Athens" was held from October 17 to October 18, 2008, during the Athens Digital Week. Disciplines featured were Quake III and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The tournament had a $30.000 prize purse, and the champion qualified for ESWC 2009.
| 2008 Masters of Athens | 4th | |||
| Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne | June "Lyn" Park | Jae Ho "Moon" Jang | Yoan "ToD" Merlo | Du-Seop "WhO" Chang |
| Quake 3 | Shane "Rapha" Hendrixson | Sebastian "Spart1e" Siira | Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski | Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky |
| 2009 Masters of Cheonan[44] | 4th | |||
| Counter-Strike | fnatic | SK-Gaming | Mousesports | Alchemists |
| Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne | Pedro "LucifroN" Moreno Durán | Park "Lyn" June | Lu "Fly100%" Weiliang | Dmitriy "Happy" Kostin |
| Gregory "IdrA" Fields |  Oleksii "White-Ra" Krupnik | Seo "ToSsGirL" Ji-Soo | Zhang"Super" Minglu | |
| Special Force | ITBANK Razer | eSTRO | ITBANK teenager Razer | END |
| FIFA Online 2 | Kim Jung-Min | Lee Woo-Young | Yang Jin-Mo | |
The 2010 "Electronic Sports World Cup", which took place at Disneyland Paris, featured a €213,500 prize purse. Games Solution (or DIP-Organisation) took over the ESWC in 2010.[45]
| 2010 | 4th | |||
| Counter-Strike | Natus Vincere | SK Gaming | mortal Team work | Frag eXecutors |
| Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne | June "Lyn" Park | Jae Ho "Moon" Jang | Sung sik "ReMinD" Kim | Happy |
| Quake Live | Rapha | av3k | Anton "Cooller" Singov | Dahang |
| Counter-Strike Female | SK Gaming | fnatic | Millenium | Mousesports |
| TrackMania | Bergie | Moria | YoYo | Carl |
| Defense of the Ancients | EHOME | DTS | MeetYourMakers | Nirvana |
| FIFA 10 | Anas "Astank" Sofi | Pires |  Andrei | Francisco "Quinzas" Cruz |
| Steffan | Husky | Sliver | lecho | |
| Super Street Fighter IV | Justin Wong | Marn | Olivier "Luffy" Hay | Sun Woo "Infiltration" Lee |
| Guitar Hero 5 | Banobi | CNB.Luckysonic | vVv Smokyprogg | kyu hwan "TeamTest" Han |
This event marked the transitional replacement and additions of several cornerstone tournament titles. This included the replacement of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne with ,[46] as well as the replacement of Defense of the Ancients with Dota 2.[47] Additionally, this event marked the first and only year in which Counter-Strike: Source was present. It was also the last year that would include Counter-Strike 1.6, which was the main attraction of the tournament for many years, and the last remaining game that had been featured in the inaugural ESWC event.[48]
| 2011 | 4th | |||
| Ilyes "Stephano" Satouri | Grzegorz "MaNa" Komincz | Jung-Hoon "MarineKing" Lee | Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen | |
| Counter-Strike | SK Gaming | Natus Vincere | Mousesports | AGAiN |
| Counter-Strike Female | UBINITED | Millenium | Moscow Five | Gamerhouse |
| Team VeryGames (Ex6TenZ, NBK, RpK, shox, SmithZz) | CKRAS Gaming (3k2, cajun, FeTiSh, h0lm, wantz) | CheckSix Gaming (DaZeD, frozt, neiL, Steel, tck) |  Team Dynamic (adreN, ANGER, AZK, Legend, PEX) | |
| TrackMania Forever |  Erik "hakkiJunior" Leštach | Marek "tween" Pacher | Yoann "YoYo" Cook | Tim "Spam" Lunenburg |
| Dota 2 | Natus Vincere | EHOME | GamersLeague | monkeybusiness |
| FIFA 11 | Adrien "Aquino" Viaud | Rafael "Ralfitita" Riobó Sánchez | Francisco "Quinzas" Cruz | Koen "k0entj92" Weijland |
| 2012 | 4th | |||
| StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty | Grzegorz "MaNa" Komincz | Park "fOrGG" Ji Soo | Ilyes "Stephano" Satouri | Grégory "NeOAnGeL" Ferte |
| Dota 2 | Natus Vincere | Team Dignitas | Shiba Gaming | Imaginary Gaming |
| ShootManiaStorm | Colwn | Eclypsia | GamersLeague | 287 |
| TrackMania Nations Forever | Tim "Spam" Lunenburg | Marek "Tween" Pacher | Carl-Antoni "CarlJr" Cloutier | Adrien "Ned" Le Berre |
| FIFA 13 | Bruce "Spank" Grannec |  Ovidiu "Ovvy" Patrascu | Julien "Juliianooo" Dassonville | Abdulaziz "Alshehri" Alshehri |
| Tekken Tag Tournament 2 | Bae "Knee" Jae Min | Park "Nin" Hyun Kyu | Leonard "lion art" Y.H |  Eze "StarScream" Izundu |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas (Get_Right, f0rest, Xizt, friberg, Fiflaren) | Team VeryGames (Ex6TenZ, NBK, RpK, SmithZz, kennyS) | Area 51 (DaZeD, sgares, semphis, PineKone, tck) | n!faculty (asmo, kirby, smn, disruptor, qk-mantis) | |
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Girls | UBINITED (Ali, jso, potter, missharvey, sapphiRe) | Team ALTERNATE (beyoNd, n i c i, kathi, iReNe, zAAz) | Reason Gaming (Abiii, Kaat, aNi-, Sephi, Salah) | Imaginary Gaming (AmandiiNe, Cla, Kly, PrincesS, TuEuSee'e) |
| Kasperi "klovni" Aaltonen | Florian "oNio" Roschu | Ludovic "Ludo" Marquet | Côme "Cocow" Marquet | |
| 4th | |||||
| compLexity | Millenium | Epsilon eSports | Infused | ||
| Clan-Mystik | VeryGames | Astana Dragons | Ninjas in Pyjamas | ||
| (women) | Druidz | Alternate | Mistral Gaming | Ubinited | |
| Dota 2 | Team Empire | Evil Geniuses | Sigma.int | 4FC | |
| FIFA 14 | Vincent "Vinch" Hoffmann | Robert "Ufenok77" Fakhretdinov | Ivan 'Boraslegend' Lapanje | Alban "azzurra" Xhemajli | |
| ShootMania Storm | aAa | Lemondogs | Pyro | Gen | Fnatic |
| TrackMania 2: Stadium | Carl Jr. | TaLa | Koenz | Bergie |
| 4th | |||||
| Evil Geniuses | TCM Gaming | Ascentia Gaming | Team Vitality | ||
| Fnatic | Team LDLC | Virtus.Pro | Natus Vincere | ||
| (women) | 3DMAX | Team Karma | Bad Monkey gaming | Reason Gaming | |
| FIFA 15 | Navid "AdamanT" Borhani | Sean "Dragonn" Allen | Benfreha "neyo67" Hicham | Ivan 'Boraslegend' Lapanje | |
| Just Dance | Diego "Diegho.san" Dos Santos | Tulio "Tulioakar96" Furst Akar | Amandine "Dina" Morisset | elvin "Jaeder" Da Rocha Santos | |
| ShootMania Storm | Aera eSport | aAa | Awsomniac | FM eSports | |
| TrackMania 2: Stadium | Carl Jr. | tween | YoYo | Spam |
| T3rd | T3rd | ||||
| OpTic Gaming | Denial eSports | Revenge Gaming | Vitality Storm |
| T3rd | T3rd | ||||
| Natus Vincere | Cloud9 | Team EnVyUs | FlipSid3 Tactics | ||
| (female) | Counter Logic Gaming Red | Games4u.se Female | Team Karma | Team Acer.fe |
| T3rd | T3rd | ||||
| FIFA 16 | August "Agge" Rosenmeier | Spencer "HugeGorilla" Ealing | Erhan "DrErhano" Kayman |  Kiarash "Immortal" Shokouhisolgi | |
| League of Legends (female) | unKnights Ladies | GG Call Nash | BX3 EK | Lamasticrew | |
| Trackmania 2 Stadium | Carl-Antoni "Carl-Jr" Cloutier | Thomas "Pac" Cole | Marek "Tween" Pacher | Tim "Spam" Lunenburg | |
| Just Dance | Diegho | Dina | Kelvin | Lucktose | |
| Trackmania VR | Hans "Racehans" Pausch | Yoann "YoYo" Cook | Yoann "YoYo" Cook | Koen "Koenz" Schobbers |
Throughout the ESWC finals the medal tally is as follows (as of ESWC 2014):
| Countries | Total | ||||
| 1 | France | 23 | 14 | 25 | 62 |
| 2 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 30 | |
| 3 | 12 | 14 | 9 | 35 | |
| 4 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 22 | |
| 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 11 | |
| 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 12 | |
| 7 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 22 | |
| 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 | |
| 9 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 | |
| 10 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 | |
| 11 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 | |
| 12 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 | |
| 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 14 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |
| 15 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 13 | |
| 16 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | |
| 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 22 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| 23 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 24 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 25 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 29 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 30 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 31 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 32 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |