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EV.IO MLBB Women's Invitational return to Esports World Cup in 2026
The tournament will feature a $500,000 prize pool and some of the best women’s Mobile Legends: Bang Bang teams battle for the trophy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Defending champions Team Vitality have automatically qualified for the 2026 edition, with the rest of the slots allocated as follows:
- Athena Cup: 1
- Queen Legends: 1
- Lady MVP: 1
- MWI 2026 Indonesia Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 MY/SG Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 China Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 South America Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 Myanmar Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 Mekong Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 Türkiye Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 MENA Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 Mongolia Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 North America Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 Western Europe Qualifier: 1
- MWI 2026 Africa Qualifier: 1
All 16 teams will begin their journey in the Group Stage after being divided into two equal groups.
They will compete in double elimination brackets in best-of-three series, with the top four teams from each group advancing to the single elimination Playoffs.
The Semi Finals and Grand Final will be played as best-of-five and best-of-seven matches, respectively, to decide the champions.
Women’s Empowerment or a PR Strategy
Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars to improve its global image, despite a well-documented history of human rights violations, which is a perfect example of sportswashing.Moreover, women in the country still lack many fundamental rights and continue to face the male guardianship system.
The same Saudi Arabian government rolling out the red carpet for female MLBB pros is ironic at best, and puts the “women empowerment” narrative under scrutiny.
In addition, while the $500,000 prize pool is quite large in comparison to other women’s esports tournaments, it is still six times smaller than the men’s EWC Mid Season Cup, which offers $3 million.
The Saudi Arabian esports organisation, Team Falcons, also fields a women’s roster to participate for the tournament, which further allows the government to wear a mask of female equality.
This is similar to esports brands slapping rainbow filters on their logos during the Pride Month, only to show no meaningful support for the rest of the year.
That said, compared to several other esports ecosystems, MLBB does offer a relatively more sustainable circuit, with the 2025 EWC Women's Invitational reaching almost 500k peak viewers.
Lastly, rather than turning women’s esports into mere marking stunts, actual work should be done to address the toxicity and harassment the gender faces on a daily basis within the ecosystem.