Street Fighter 6 Pros from around the world have gathered in Paris for this year’s Esports World Cup, giving their all to prove they are the best in the world!

---

Rundown

The Esports World Cup is back with another intense tournament for Street Fighter 6, and this year is no slouch of a tournament as 2x EWC champion Xiaohai will try to go for a three peat. In order to qualify players had to win their way through tournaments from around the world like EVO, Street Fighter League events, Combo breaker, and the EWC last chance qualifier.

The tournament is divided into three phases, two of which are group stages and the final one being the top eight finals. Phase one has 32 players split into four different groups playing in 8 man brackets where only the top four of each group move on into phase 2. Phase 2 pits the remaining 16 player advancing from phase 1 into two 8 man group brackets whittling it down to the TOP 8 remaining players who will duke it out in the final stage of the tournament.

Group Stage 1

Here are the 32 players and what group they landed in for this year EWC

Phase one started out with a bang with day 1 having group B and C having some intense matches and huge upsets sending some notable names out of the tournament. Group B Had Big names like Tokido, AngryBird, Punk, and Nephew in some intense battles but out of those four only Tokido and Nephew were able to move on into phase 2 through the losers side of group stage 1. AngryBird started out strong with 3-0 start against Nephew sending him to losers, but struggled against Team Falcon’s Craime going 0-3 having to fight Tokido in losers. Unfortunately for AngryBird would end up losing to Tokido in an intense 3-2 match sending him home and getting his key crushed. Punk on the other hand had a rough time at EWC losing to Capcom Cup 12 Champ Sahara 3-0 and then losing to Tokido 3-1 in losers bracket sending him home and having his key crushed. Team Heretics (Lexx) advances to group stage 2 in winners side beating Tokido 3-1 and Sahara in an intense 3-2 match. Team Falcons (Craime) will also advance into group stage 2 through winners side beating Chris Tatarian in a close 3-2 match and beating AngryBird in a clean 3-0 match.

Group C didn’t hold anything back either, having Yamaguchi punch his way into group stage 2 in some intense matches. He struggled against his teammate Higuchi going 3-1 but found his rhythm in losers bracket going 3-2 against Fuudo, and beating RIDDLE ORDER’s Shigematsu 3-1 and crushing his key to advance. Joining him is felloq teammate Higuchi who also fought is way through losers bracket after losing to Moke in a hard hitting 3-2 match, but bouncing back against Caba 3-0 in ordr to advance. In winners side Fav Gaming’s Moke will move on to group stage two after beating Fuudo 3-1 and Higuchi 3-2. Hinao had a breeze in phase 1 beating both JuicyJoe and Riddle Order’s Shigematsu 3-0 advancing to phase 2 without a loss.

That was just day one, day 2 was just as crazy having group A and what they’re calling “the group of death” group D fighting for the remaining 8 spots for group stage 2.

Group D also known as the group of death kicked off day 2 of group stage 1 having fan favorites and the 2x EWC champion Xiaohai who had to requalify for the tournament due two signing with a new team. Leshar and Team Nemisis Xian kicked it off in an intense match with Xian going over Fan favorite Leshar 3-2 unfortunately he couldn’t beat another fan favorite Gachikun in a 3-0 sweep in Gachikun’s favor. Gachikun will advance after taking down rising star Blaz in a 3-0 sweep and as mentioned before Xian. Joining him in winners side is Booce_Lee after taking down fellow American player Crazy Racoon’s Dual Kevin 3-1, and sweeping Phenom to a 3-0 match. In Losers side Leshar will find his way into Phase 2 after eliminating Blaz 3-0, and sending Phenom home in a 3-1 match. Dual Kevin will also advance after bouncing back from his loss to Booce_Lee taking down the defending 2x EWC Champ Xiaohai in a grueling 3-1 match sending back home, and taking out Team Nemesis’s Xian 3-1.

Group A will end day two of group stage 1 with some memorable matches with big names in the FGC going head to head. Street Fighter Legend Daigo kicked things off by winning against DetonatioN FocusMe in a clean 3-0 win, but struggled against Micky losing 3-0, and sadly losing to rival MenaRD in losers in a tough 3-2 match. BigBird couldn’t find an answer against Kobayan losing to him 3-0 and ending his tournament run against MenaRD 3-0. MenaRD was able to find his way into Phase 2 after losing in a tough 3-0 loss to Hibiki in the first round being sent to losers bracket. He was then able to find his rhythm against BigBird going 3-0, and facing one of his biggest rivals and legend Daigo in a tough 3-2 win in order to advance and end Daigo’s run in the EWC. SBI E-Sports own Hibiki will advance in losers side after being sent there in a 3-2 loss to Koboyan, then beating Kilzyou 3-0 to make it to Phase 2. Micky will advance in winners side without losing a single match against FocusMe and Daigo. Lastly Kobayan advances unto Phase 2 in winners side beating BigBird 3-0, and squeaking by with a 3-2 win against Hibiki.

---

GROUP STAGE 2

Group Stage 2 is looking like it’s going to be just as intense as stage one with the remaining 16 players fighting for their spot in the EWC TOP 8. Phase two has them split into two groups of 8 where only the final 4 of each group will move on.

These brackets look intense don’t you think? You can watch these matches go down on the Street fighter Twitch page or on the EWC YouTube page. Lets us know who do you want to make it into the TOP 8, we’ll be watching along and keeping you updated as the tournament goes on.

Its not over yet as the Tekken 8 EWC tournament is just around the corner with the last chance qualifiers starting on July 31st, and the main tournament in August 5th.