The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) announced this week that it has partnered with Saudi Arabia-based “lifestyle destinations company” Cenomi Centers, which will serve as a main partner of the Esports World Cup 2025, currently taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Financial terms of this new partnership were not disclosed.
Cenomi Centers claims to provide “youth-focused retail and entertainment experiences” across the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through a “portfolio of 21 assets, with more than 4,200 stores strategically located in 10 major Saudi cities.” In essence, it’s a company that operates a number of malls or shopping centers throughout the country. It operates the Mall of Arabia Jeddah and Nakheel Mall Riyadh, as examples.
As part of this new deal, Cenomi Centers will launch branded activations at the Esports World Cup including cross branding at some of its properties including the Nakheel Mall Riyadh.
EWCF also announced this week a deal with Saudi Arabia-based airline, Saudia. Under the terms of the deal, Saudia has been named the official airline partner of the 2025 Esports World Cup. Financial terms of this deal were also not disclosed.
These and other deals announced this week, particularly those local companies and agencies involved in tourism, are part of a push to bring more visitor to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of the government’s Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the country’s wealth generation away from oil and into other areas such as entertainment, sport, technology and tourism.
Saudia and Cenomi Centers join a growing list of partners and sponsors including the Saudi Tourism Authority, Hilton, Mastercard, IMG, Spotify, Lenovo, stc Group, Stream Hatchet, and Aramco, among others.
The Esports World Cup is a seven week, multi-title competition hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, featuring an overall prize pool of more than $70 million USD. The competition is funded by a grant from the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund and operated in cooperation with ESL FACEIT Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi government-owned gaming and esports company Savvy Games Group. The 2025 edition runs from July 7 – Aug. 24, and will be followed by the business conference, the New Global Sport Conference (NGSC2025), on Aug. 23 – 24, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh.
Projects backed or owned by the Saudi Arabian government such as Esports World Cup are criticized for helping the government engage in “sports washing,” or using various forms of entertainment to cover up its record on human rights, women’s rights, LGTBQ+ rights, military actions in Yemen, and more. These and other criticisms have been highlighted by international watchdog groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.