The 2024 edition of the Esports World Cup is currently ongoing. The competition, being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, began July 3 and will continue through August 25.
Top online sports betting sites like BetUS will be offering odds on all the games of the Esports World Cup throughout the duration of the event.
Only the planet’s elite esports performers from games like Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends are on hand for this event. They gained entry through their ESL World Ranking, as well as via qualifiers in their respective regions around the world.
Who are these players? Well, thanks to the website Esports Earnings, not only can we track who the best players are, but which countries they hail from and what esports they excel at playing.
China ($298,000,373.16)
The Chinese are No. 1 on this list and they do most of their earning by playing Dota 2. Winnings from that esports game accounted for 28.46% of all of their bankroll at $84,810,999.42.
Individually, Wang “Ame” Chunyu is China’s highest-earning player, garnering winnings of $4,135,404.27 while playing Dota 2. He was among seven Chinese players who banked more than $3 million in earnings. In fact, 48 different Chinese players earned at least $1 million.
United States ($274,548,182.75)
Volume certainly played a role in the standing of the Americans as runners-up on this list. There are 27,472 professional esports players from the USA, as compared to just 8,800 from leading China.
Only three Americans – Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf ($3,705,091.72S), Saahil “UNIVERsE” Arora ($3,057,237.67) and Peter “ppd” Dager ($3,029,331.36) – would earn as much as $3 million and just 25 made it to the $1 million earnings plateau. Fortnite was the top game for US players. It generated $48,015,515.70 in earnings, good for 17.49% of the entire American total.
South Korea ($145,201,263.78)
Featuring just 5,793 pro players, South Korea nonetheless sends out some of the best esports players in the world. They are considered far and away the most dominant players in League of Legends and in fact $37,217,560.30, or 26.63% of all the country’s earnings were garnered while playing this esports game.
The depth of talent among South Korean players becomes evident once you realize only five of them earned as much as $1 million. Leading the way was the player considered to be the world’s top LoL player, Sang Hyeok “Faker” Lee. He earned $1,718,369.76.
Russian Federation ($83,628,307.97)
The dropoff in revenue from the top three nations down to Russia in fourth overall is significant. Russian players barely earned over half of what the South Korean esport athletes were banking.
Dota 2 is the top esports game for Russian players. They earned $36,773,152,30 playing Dota 2. That accounted for a whopping 43.97% of total esports earnings. Twelve Russian players topped $1 million in earnings. Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov ($5,733,952.09) and Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov ($5,501,71.67) both bettered $5 million.
Brazil ($61,840,580.82)
Brazilians love to play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. That game accounts for $11,939,051.38 of the country’s esports earnings, or 19.31% of all bank. Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo is the highest-earning Brazilian player with $1,226,165.79 in prize money won.
Toledo almost exclusively earned his esports paydays while playing CS:GO. He was among four Brazilian players to go over $1 million in earnings. No one else earned more than $506,000.
Denmark ($59,343,300.48)
Talk about making the most of what you’ve got. There are just 2,098 professional esports players from Denmark, although it must be noted that two of the all-time greats of esports are Danes. Johan “N0tail” Sundstein is the highest earning Danish player. He’s banked $7,184,163.05 in prize money overall, which also makes him the top money earner of all-time in esports. Of that total, $7,172,436.83, or 99.84% has been won while playing in Dota 2 tournaments.
CS:GO was the big game for Danish players. They earned a massive 38.88% of their bankroll playing this variety of esport, garnering $23,071,711.26. Denmark’s Peter “Dupreeh” Rasmussen is a five-time CS:GO world champion, showing a bankroll of $2,211,464.40. A dozen Danes have earned more than $1 million playing esports.
France ($54,354,979.12)
For the French, CS:GO is also the leading game. Players from France have earned $9,829,320.45 playing CS:GO, which works out to 18.08% of all French esports earnings.
However, France’s top-earning player was banking his winnings while playing Dota 2. Sebastien “Ceb” Debs has won $5,925,842.73 playing that esport. He’s among just three French players to bank more than $1 million from playing esports.
Sweden ($53,975,446.32)
The final country with more than $50 million in esport earnings, Sweden has cleared this milestone with the help of only 3,255 pro esports performers. Dota 2 is far and away the top esports game for Swedes. They’ve earned $17,159,232,52 playing Dota 2, accounting for 31.79% of all Swedish earnings.
Not surprisingly then, the top-earning Swede in esports is a Dota 2 star. Ludwig “Zai” Wåhlberg has banked $4,292,756.02 in overall winnings. Of that amount, he’s garnered $4,272,661.31, or 99.53% of his bankroll while playing in Dota 2 tournaments.
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