EWC’s Faisal bin Homran says Riyadh stays home as Paris hosts the third event

Riyadh is still the hub, according to Faisal bin Homran. The Esports World Cup Foundation Chief Product Officer said the decision to move the EWC from Riyadh to Paris for its third event does not change where the tournament belongs, calling Riyadh the place where the competition has reached “maturity, credibility and legitimacy.”

That framing matters because the EWC is not just adding a new host city. It is making a public bet on whether a Saudi-launched IP can travel without losing its engine. Homran told Arab News that the “opportunity presented itself in Paris,” and he thinks it is “a good time to test the IP outside of Saudi Arabia.” He also added a guardrail: the move has to be good for “the clubs, the players, the community and publishers,” or it is not worth taking further.

To understand why this is a high-stakes decision in esports, look at the wider regional disruption backdrop the article points to. The move comes amid a year where several major sporting events in the region were disrupted. The 2026 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was canceled earlier this year, and AFC Champions League Elite matches were delayed before ultimately returning to Jeddah. In that environment, the EWC following with an announcement to host its third event in Paris is the kind of scheduling and location shift that makes industry players ask a simple question: is this expansion, hedging, or both?

Homran’s answer leans expansion with an identity anchor. His argument is that Riyadh is not merely a launchpad, it is the developmental base where the tournament earned enough traction to become a global property that other cities actively seek. In his words, cities and countries are now “actively seeking to host it.” That is a subtle but important signal for the industry because esports events often chase audiences across platforms, formats, and geographies. For a tournament brand, credibility is a currency, and credibility is typically built by repeat execution. The article says the EWC already had two successful events in Saudi Arabia’s capital, and that is the foundation for Homran’s claim that Riyadh should remain the “birthplace” as the competition grows.

There is also a strategic reason to test the IP outside its origin market. Homran explicitly calls the Paris opportunity a chance “to test the IP outside of Saudi Arabia.” Translation for decision-makers: the EWC can validate whether it can recreate its core draw when it is not buoyed by local momentum, familiar organizers, and a home-market media cycle. That kind of validation is critical if you are planning future multi-city scaling, because every additional host market changes variables like ticketing dynamics, local partnerships, sponsor ecosystems, and on-the-ground production requirements.

The Foundation Chief Product Officer also points to how success will be judged in a way that differs from Riyadh. In a quantitative sense, he says “viewership and attendance are key.” But he adds a second benchmark for the Paris market: success will be measured by whether the tournament can “take over the city.” He wants people across Paris to feel that the EWC is “everywhere.” That is not just marketing language. It implies that the evaluation model is multi-dimensional, not only streaming numbers. It suggests the event’s footprint, partnerships, and physical presence will be part of the KPI stack.

And if Paris works, Homran says the next step is conversation with other cities and regions. He expects “at some point” to have discussions elsewhere because appetite for the EWC around the world continues to grow. He even raises the possibility of expansion beyond Europe, which matters for boards because global expansion is usually where operating complexity multiplies. Once you leave a home ecosystem, you need reliable stakeholder alignment across clubs, players, publishers, and community partners. Homran’s insistence on those core stakeholders being centered in “every decision” reads like an operational philosophy designed to prevent expansion from becoming chaos.

There is a legacy question baked into the move as well. Arab News asked what Riyadh’s legacy would be if the EWC continues to expand. Homran’s answer splits into physical and sentimental impact. The physical legacy, he said, would be “the presence of a totem.” The more lasting effect, he suggests, is sentimental. He argues they are “not only here because of Saudi Arabia” and that the intent is to invest in the industry’s sustainability. He also makes a long-horizon claim: while the “easiest outcome” might have been to cancel the third edition, it is important to keep the tournament going to build a sustainable future for the industry. His hope is that in 20 years people will recognize Riyadh as the place where much of that progress began.

For executives watching this, the real story is how the EWC is managing a tension that every scaling IP eventually faces: expand far enough to become global, without letting the origin story evaporate. By positioning Paris as a controlled “test” and by defining success metrics that include city-level takeover, Homran is essentially telling the esports industry what kind of growth he believes is legitimate. If that model holds, it could influence how future esports tournaments justify host-market shifts, measure performance beyond raw viewership, and maintain stakeholder trust while chasing international appetite.