2026 Esports Tournaments: What to Look Forward to
Every year, esports gains more and more traction, and we couldn’t be more excited for the coming 2026 tournament year. Whether you are a fan of League of Legends or Counter-Strike 2, we guarantee you will have several amazing tournaments to watch in the coming year.
Read on as we give a quick debrief of all of the amazing tournaments in the upcoming year.
1. M7 World Championship
The M7 World Championship will run from January 3rd, 2026, until January 25th. It takes place in Indonesia and will feature the mobile game MLBB (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang). Even if you haven’t ever heard of the game, it might be time to tune in to this tournament because it takes place in an exhilarating knock-out structure, and the prize pool is a cool $1 million USD.
2. King Pro League Spring 2026
If you thought one million was a large prize pool, then just wait until the King Pro League starting January 14th, 2026. Now this tournament is much longer than others on this list, and it lasts all the way until April 1st, 2026. Which explains the prize pool of over $2 million USD.
The game played at the King Pro League is none other than Honor of Kings (or Arena of Valor for those of us in the west), and it’s expected to draw an especially large crowd this year. Unlike the aforementioned event, this one is a structured season, meaning all teams will play multiple times, with points taken into account for elimination.
3. ALGS: 2026 Championship
ALGS: 2026 Championship is another tournament with an impressive prize pool of over $2 million USD. Starting January 15th, this one runs until January 18th, making it a relatively short tournament overall. This year, ALGS will take place in Japan.
At ALGS, you can watch players play EA’s Apex Legends to your heart’s content. A fun squad-based battle royale game, ensures that spectators will never be bored!
4. ESL One Birmingham 2026
Dota2 fans better book their tickets now to Birmingham, UK, because we just know this event will sell out! Running from March 23rd to March 29th, it has a $1 million USD prize pool.
ESL One Birmingham is a knock-out style tournament with 16 teams in the starting lineup. While the teams haven’t been announced yet (and are still actively competing), ESL One started in Birmingham and is quite popular there, so we do expect these tickets to sell out before game day. Ensure you buy in advance!
5. CS2 Major Championship Winter 2026
While there are many CS2 (Counter-Strike-2) tournaments in the coming year, the one everyone is looking forward to is arguably the championship, which takes place from November 30th, 2026, to December 13th with a prize pool of $1.25 million USD.
In recent years, CS2 has risen to be one of the highest-paid games in esports, with nine events having a prize pool over $1 million USD in 2026. Of course, not all of these events carry the bragging rights of winning the championship, but we are sure the winners won’t care when they line their pockets with cash.
6. Call Of Duty League Championship
Las Vegas locals can rejoice as the Call of Duty League Championship is taking place in none other than Sin City in 2026, from July 16th-19th. These dates are also convenient as they are just after the WSOP main event ends, allowing poker players who love gaming to stick around for the event.
The Call of Duty season started this month, in December, so we aren’t sure who will be playing in the finals just yet. The players have a full season ahead of them with games in not one but three countries!
7. League of Legends Worlds
League of Legends fans, we didn’t forget about you! In 2026, the world championships will return to New York in the United States for the second time in 10 years, though the exact dates have yet to be announced. With the season starting on January 8th, we suspect it will be at least a month before we know exactly when the tournament will take place.
It’s important to note that the play-ins and playoffs will take place in Allen, Texas, before the competition moves to New York for the finals. This will give fans across the country great options for seeing their favorite teams play!
8. Valorant Masters
Valorant fans also have a busy season ahead of them with Masters rounds taking place in both Santiago, Chile, and London, UK. But of course, most only care about the actual championship round, which is taking place in Shanghai, China, in 2026.
The championships are scheduled for September/October and no exact dates have been released yet. Like other tournaments on this list, the Valorant Championships will start with 16 teams (4 from each region), and then a double-elimination format will be used to narrow the teams down to one winner.
9. World of Warcraft World Championship
Now, the World of Warcraft season just came to an end in November, so we were unable to find concrete information about the end of the 2026 season. We suspect more will be announced in the coming days, but fans can assume that World of Warcraft will have a world championship game in 2026.
10. Rocket League World Cup
Rocket League also just started its season in November 2025, and has already played several games toward the 2026 World Cup, which comes to a head in February 2026. Because Rocket League has a complicated setup (with 1vs1, 2vs2, and 3vs3 leagues across two different regions), it’s hard to give specific information to fans on when they can attend the World Cup and where (As there are multiple options).
But, if you love Rocket League and missed the first Majors in Copenhagen, Denmark, from December 5th-7th, 2025, head on over to the Rocket League website to find out when there might be a major game (or World Cup) near you!
