2023 Overwatch World Cup

The 2023 Overwatch World Cup (OWWC) was the fifth edition of the Overwatch World Cup, an Overwatch esports tournament, organized by the game's developer Blizzard Entertainment. Over 40 teams from various countries and regions competed for one of the 16 spots in the 2023 OWWC. The group stage was a no audience LAN event and took place from October 29 to November 1. The knockout stage took place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, during BlizzCon from November 3 to 4, 2023. It was the first World Cup event since 2019 and the first of Overwatch 2.^[1][2]

2023 Overwatch World Cup

Tournament information
Game	Overwatch 2
Date	October 29 – November 4, 2023
Administrator	Blizzard Entertainment
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Venue(s)	Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, California
Teams	16
Final positions
Champions	Saudi Arabia
1st runner-up	China
2nd runner-up	Finland
← 2019 2024 →

The finals took place on November 4 between Saudi Arabia and China. Saudi Arabia won the match by a score of 3–2 to claim their first World Cup title.^[3]

Teams

Committees and players

Each country has a National Competition Committee, consisting of a general manager, head coach, and social lead, who are responsible for organizing tryouts for their country. Blizzard chose committees via an application process, which began in February 2023. Throughout three weekends in February, every committee hosted an open format tournament, called World Cup Trials. The winning team of each World Cup Trial won US$2,000 and earned an automatic invitation to their country's team tryouts in March 2023. Committees finalized a seven-person roster by April 2023.^[4][5]

Qualification

  Automatically qualified

  Qualified

  Did not qualify

  Did not participate

A total of 36 countries and regions were invited, based on Overwatch 2 player population data, to play in online qualifiers for the 2023 OWWC, with the teams evenly divided into six regions. An additional four teams also played in the online qualifiers via a "wild card challenge". Of the teams, a total of 15 advanced to the group stage of the OWWC. China received a direct invitation to the group stage due to "the current dynamics in China".^[4][6]

Automatically qualified (1)

•  China

Americas (5)

•  Brazil
•  Canada
•  Colombia
•  Mexico
•  United States

Europe and Middle East (5)

•  Finland
•  France
•  Great Britain
•  Saudi Arabia
•  Spain

Asia-Pacific (5)

•  Australia
•  Hong Kong
•  Japan
•  South Korea
•  Thailand

Venue

Anaheim
Anaheim, California, USA
Anaheim Convention Center Arena
Capacity: 7,500[7]

Online qualifiers

Americas

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MD	Qualification
1	United States	5	5	0	1.000	10	1	+9	Advance to group stage
2	Canada	5	4	1	0.800	8	2	+6
3	Mexico	5	3	2	0.600	7	5	+2
4	Puerto Rico	5	2	3	0.400	5	6	−1
5	Costa Rica	5	1	4	0.200	2	8	−6
6	Guatemala	5	0	5	0.000	0	10	−10

Source: Overwatch World Cup

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MD	Qualification
1	Colombia	5	5	0	1.000	10	1	+9	Advance to group stage
2	Brazil	5	4	1	0.800	8	2	+6
3	Chile	5	3	2	0.600	7	5	+2
4	Peru	5	2	3	0.400	4	7	−3
5	Argentina	5	1	4	0.200	4	8	−4
6	Ecuador	5	0	5	0.000	0	10	−10

Source: Overwatch World Cup

Europe and Middle East

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MD	Qualification
1	Great Britain	7	6	1	0.857	13	3	+10	Advance to group stage
2	Spain	7	5	2	0.714	11	7	+4
3	France	7	5	2	0.714	11	5	+6
4	Denmark	7	4	3	0.571	10	8	+2
5	Belgium	7	3	4	0.429	6	8	−2
6	Netherlands	7	3	4	0.429	8	8	0
7	Italy	7	2	5	0.286	5	11	−6
8	Portugal	7	0	7	0.000	0	14	−14

Source: Overwatch World Cup

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MD	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	7	7	0	1.000	14	1	+13	Advance to group stage
2	Finland	7	6	1	0.857	13	2	+11
3	Norway	7	5	2	0.714	10	6	+4
4	Sweden	7	3	4	0.429	7	8	−1
5	Germany	7	3	4	0.429	6	7	−1
6	Turkey	7	2	5	0.286	6	11	−5
7	Poland	7	1	6	0.143	4	13	−9
8	Iceland	7	1	6	0.143	3	13	−10

Source: Overwatch World Cup

Asia-Pacific

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MD	Qualification
1	South Korea	5	5	0	1.000	10	0	+10	Advance to group stage
2	Japan	5	4	1	0.800	8	2	+6
3	Hong Kong	5	3	2	0.600	6	4	+2
4	Chinese Taipei	5	2	3	0.400	4	6	−2
5	Indonesia	5	1	4	0.200	2	8	−6
6	Philippines	5	0	5	0.000	0	10	−10

Source: Overwatch World Cup

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MD	Qualification
1	Australia	5	5	0	1.000	10	1	+9	Advance to group stage
2	Thailand	5	4	1	0.800	9	3	+6
3	India	5	3	2	0.600	7	5	+2
4	New Zealand	5	2	3	0.400	4	6	−2
5	Malaysia	5	1	4	0.200	2	9	−7
6	Singapore	5	0	5	0.000	2	10	−8

Source: Overwatch World Cup

Group stage

The group stage ran from October 29 to November 1, 2023, and was a LAN event in Southern California without an audience. A total of 16 teams, determined from the online qualifiers, were divided into groups, and each group competed in a round-robin tournament. Of the 16 teams, eight advanced to the knockouts.^[8]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MD	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	3	0	1.000	6	1	+5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Finland	3	2	1	0.667	5	2	+3
3	Colombia	3	1	2	0.333	2	5	−3
4	Mexico	3	0	3	0.000	1	6	−5

Source: Overwatch World Cup

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MD	Qualification
1	Great Britain	3	3	0	1.000	6	0	+6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Canada	3	2	1	0.667	4	2	+2
3	Australia	3	1	2	0.333	2	4	−2
4	Brazil	3	0	3	0.000	0	6	−6

Source: Overwatch World Cup

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MD	Qualification
1	China	3	3	0	1.000	6	0	+6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Spain	3	2	1	0.667	4	2	+2
3	Thailand	3	1	2	0.333	2	4	−2
4	Hong Kong	3	0	3	0.000	0	6	−6

Source: Overwatch World Cup

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MD	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	3	3	0	1.000	6	0	+6	Advance to knockout stage
2	United States	3	2	1	0.667	4	3	+1
3	Japan	3	1	2	0.333	2	4	−2
4	France	3	0	3	0.000	1	6	−5

Source: Overwatch World Cup

Knockout stage

The knockout stage took place from November 3–4, 2023, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, during BlizzCon.^[9] The top eight teams from the group stage competed in a single-elimination tournament.^[8]

Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

November 3

A1

South Korea

3

November 4

B2

Canada

1

A1

South Korea

2

November 3

C1

China

3

C1

China

3

November 4

D2

United States

0

C1

China

2

November 3

D1

Saudi Arabia

3

B1

Great Britain

0

November 4

A2

Finland

3

A2

Finland

2

Third place

November 3

D1

Saudi Arabia

3

November 4

D1

Saudi Arabia

3

A1

South Korea

2

C2

Spain

0

A2

Finland

3

Prize pool

The 2023 World Cup prize pool was generated through crowdfunding via the sales of in-game cosmetics within Overwatch 2. A total of 25% of the revenue generated from Overwatch World Cup cosmetics and bundled packages contributed to the overall prize pool of the Overwatch World Cup. There was no preset limit or cap on these contributions, so the prize pool could grow until the end of the crowdfunding initiative, which took place on the final day of the Overwatch World Cup Finals.^[10] On the first day of BlizzCon, Blizzard announced that the prize pool had reached at least US$500,000.^[11] A segment of the prize pool was allocated to the all competing teams in the tournament. The specific distribution percentages was determined based on each team's placement in the tournament. The top 16 teams that qualified for the LAN event were awarded 73% of the total prize pool, while the remaining 27% was equitably divided among the teams that participated in the Online Qualifiers and the Wild Card Challenge. The prize pool distribution is detailed below.^[10]

Place	Team	Prize ($)	Prize (%)
1	Saudi Arabia	>$125,000	25%
2	China	>$50,000	10%
3	Finland	>$40,000	8%
4	South Korea	>$30,000	6%
5–8	Canada	>$15,000	3%
	Great Britain
	Spain
	United States
9–16	Australia	>$7,500	1.5%
	Brazil
	Colombia
	France
	Hong Kong
	Japan
	Mexico
	Thailand
17–43	–	>$5,000	1%