Saudi Arabia is set to host the biggest esports tournament to date this summer.
The event is a large part of the kingdom’s push to cement itself as a global hub for gaming. Bolstered by the Vision 2030 initiative, the tournament shows Saudi Arabia's dedication to becoming a global powerhouse in the realms of gaming and sports.
The Esports World Cup, set to take place in Riyadh, will feature a diverse line-up of games, including Street Fighter, Overwatch and League of Legends. With a prize pool of $60 million, it is expected to attract top talent from across the globe. The event will also feature a festival of gaming and esports activities, alongside conferences and side tournaments.
Speaking to The National, Ralf Reichert, chief executive of the Esports World Cup Foundation, offered insights into what this event means for Saudi Arabia and the expansive gaming community at large. “It's intended to be the ultimate competition across the different games and bring them all together at a scale that the gaming industry hasn't seen yet.”
Reichert's influence on the esports world spans decades, most significantly as the chief executive and co-founder of ESL (Electronic Sports League), a pioneering force in the esports domain. Since its inception in 2000, ESL has emerged as a front-runner in organising and broadcasting tournaments for popular games such as Counter Strike, Dota 2 and League of Legends. Now in his current role, he is spearheading efforts to establish the Esports World Cup as a premier event on the gaming calendar.
Reichert says the Esports World Cup is more than a competition, as it is also an opportunity to bring gaming communities together and push the industry into the future. He says: "There will be a time when everyone is a gamer and for Saudi Arabia to make esports and games a national strategy is just so much ahead of the curve of anywhere else.”
He adds that the kingdom’s location allows it to “connect the two most important markets, the US and China”.
“We have in Saudi Arabia the unique position that we get along with both and therefore can have both countries represented well.”
With a diverse array of games set to take centre stage, including Counter-Strike and the popular football game EAFC, the event promises to be a gaming spectacle unlike any to date.
Reichert says the appeal of a game like Counter-Strike is universal and can be enjoyed by anyone whether they are into gaming or not. "It's very easy to understand. It's super intense. It has a lot of the ingredients for being the most successful viewership sport in the world."
He also expects the EAFC tournament to be popular among viewers.
The tournaments are set to start on July 3 and run for eight weeks until August 25. At the moment, not all the prize pools for the various games have been revealed but the one with the biggest prize is Dota 2, offering players the chance to win $5 million.
For Reichert, the goal of hosting such a prestigious global tournament is clear. “The intent of the Esports World Cup is to accelerate the growth of the Esports industry specifically, it clearly has the ambition to become one of the largest sports events in the world,” he says.
On whether the Esports World Cup could become nation representing rather than team representing in the future, Reichert says we’ve seen sporting events such as the Olympics take steps towards such an event. “The Esports World Cup is club-based. I believe in a future where all these things work well together and continue to all grow the industry. While saying that, that the club approach is the more historic one, the nations’ one still needs a little bit of work and positioning.”
When asked which of the tournaments in the Esports World Cup he’s most looking forward to, Reichert says “there has to be multiple answers and personally, I love all my children the same. There's plenty of games, there's Honour of Kings, which is having a massive competition for the first time outside of China. There's also Overwatch, which is big in the region and globally.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
List of officials:
Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
The biog
Age: 59
From: Giza Governorate, Egypt
Family: A daughter, two sons and wife
Favourite tree: Ghaf
Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense
Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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Company profile
Name: Tharb
Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Luxury leather goods
Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings
How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The five pillars of Islam
Napoleon
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani