China-based esports tournament organizer Hero Esports announced Wednesday that Street Fighter 6 competitions at the multi-title competition, the Asian Champions League (ACL), will provide two spots to the Esports World Cup Street Fighter 6 competition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this summer. While it was common knowledge that Street Fighter 6 would be part of this year’s ACL, Hero Esports made it “official” with today’s announcement.
Earlier this week, Hero Esports officially announced that TeamFight Tactics would be part of the event and that the winner and runner-ups would earn one of six spots at the Esports World Cup.
Scheduled for May 17 – 18, ACL is offering a total prize pool of $30K USD and is open to all, with no entry requirements—just as it is for the ACL CS2 and ACL Dota2 tournaments.
The two slots for the Esports World Cup are made possible through a partnership with ESL FACEIT Group’s DreamHack, which will be hosting DreamHack Shanghai in May as well. Both the champion and runner-up of the ACL Street Fighter 6 tournament will secure a direct entry into the Esports World Cup. ACL will be a part of DreamHack Shanghai, as reported first by The Esports Advocate in January—before Hero Esports’ official announcement, marking the first time DreamHack has come to China.
“Through our collaboration with DreamHack, we aim to create an immersive offline experience for the ACL Street Fighter 6 Tournament,” Asian Champions League CEO Jonny Wang said in a release. “We believe that bringing players together in a live setting will enhance the competitive spirit and foster community engagement.”
More details about the 2025 ACL can be found at esportsacl.com.
Hero Esports has financial ties to the Saudi Arabian government, which also funds the Esports World Cup and has been accused of engaging in sports washing to cover up its human rights violations—according to rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. In February 2023, Hero Esports (then known as VSPO) secured a $265M USD Series C cash investment from Savvy Games Group, which is a wholly owned company of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund.