The Gaimin Gladiators, PARIVISION, Tundra Esports and Team Falcons emerged from the elimination phase with sweeps on Sunday to advance to the playoffs at the Dota 2 Esports World Cup 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The quarterfinals are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. The elimination phase began on Saturday with Xtreme Gaming, Team Yandex, Talon Esports and Team Falcons staying alive with 2-0 sweeps in the best-of-three matches.
The Esports World Cup 2025 is the final championship of the third season of the ESL Pro Tour. Previously known as the Riyadh Masters, the Esports World Cup takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and has a prize pool of $3 million, with $1 million as well as 1,000 club points going to the team that’s crowned champion on next Saturday.
The format consists of three phases: a group stage (July 8-11) of four groups of four teams competing in a round-robin, an elimination phase (July 12-13) formatted into a gauntlet bracket that rewards top finishers from Phase 1, then a final playoff stage (July 16-19), which is single elimination.
All matches in Phase 1 are two games, while the matches in Phases 2 and 3 are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.
On Sunday, PARIVISION knocked off Xtreme Gaming in 44 minutes and 47 minutes, both on green. The Gaimin Gladiators downs Team Yandex in 26 minutes on red and 34 minutes on green.
Tundra Esports dispatched Talon Esports in 33 minutes on red and 30 minutes on green.
All three of the losing sides in those matches had won on Saturday. Team Falcons, however, won back-to-back matches, downing Natus Vincere in 39 minutes on red and 35 minutes on green on Sunday.
Group stage winners who already advanced to Phase 3 were Team Spirit (Group A), BetBoom Team (B), Aurora Gaming (C) and Team Liquid (D).
Quarterfinal matches on Wednesday:
–Team Spirit vs. Gaimin Gladiators
–Aurora Gaming vs. PARAVISION
–Winners play on Friday in the semifinals
Quarterfinals on Thursday:
–BetBoom Team vs. Tundra Esports
–Team Liquid vs. Team Falcons
–Winners play on Friday in the semifinals
The semifinal winners play in the best-of-five grand final on Saturday; the semifinal losers battle in a best-of-three for third place the same day.
Prize pool payouts and club points:
1. TBD, $1,000,000, 1,000
2. TBD, $500,000, 750
3. TBD, $300,000, 500
4. TBD, $200,000, 300
5-8, TBD, $125,000, 200
9-12. $75,000, Xtreme Gaming, Team Yandex, Talon Esports, Natus Vincere
13-16. $50,000, Execration, Shopify Rebellion, HEROIC, Virtus.pro
–Field Level Media
