The final rankings for the Annual Club Incentive 2025 have been confirmed by ESL FACEIT Group (EFG), with the Saudi Arabian organisation Team Falcons securing the largest share of the $2.95 million prize pool. The initiative, designed to reward Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) teams for their role in generating tournament viewership throughout the EFG circuit, concluded its inaugural year following IEM Chengdu.
The system allocated points to teams based on their average concurrent viewership (Average CCV) during the group stages of selected events, with data provided by Esports Charts. A team’s final tally was also influenced by an Event Multiplier, which benefited organisations that participated in more tournaments.
Following the last event of the year, IEM Chengdu, the top 16 teams from a total of 42 participating clubs were ranked according to their total points to determine the distribution of the financial reward. See the full standings in this link.
The final standings reveal a clear differentiation in earnings based on a combination of viewership points and event attendance. While Team Falcons secured the top spot and largest share ($407,422), the rankings highlight varied team strategies. For instance, The MongolZ leveraged high viewership and high attendance (7 events) to claim second ($295,313), whereas Team Spirit, despite amassing significant viewership points, attended fewer events (5), resulting in an eighth-place finish ($205,078).
The financial impact of the Event Multiplier is further illustrated by comparing 3DMAX and Virtus.pro; though 3DMAX placed lower in individual event viewership, their attendance at 7 events earned them 11th place ($109,375), while Virtus.pro’s 4 events led to 15th ($40,625). The complete payout structure shows a steep drop after the top ten, with the last four placed teams—paiN Gaming, Astralis, Virtus.pro, and Aurora—sharing 6.7% of the total prize pool combined.
The concluded Annual Club Incentive for 2025 will see payments issued in the first quarter of 2026. The standings will now reset for the 2026 season, which begins with IEM Kraków in late January.
The structure of EFG’s incentive, particularly its Event Multiplier, creates a tangible financial rationale for partnered teams to prioritise that circuit. This economic incentive, part of a broader Ecosystem Agreement, may partly explain the reported preference of some clubs for EFG events over those of other organisers, providing context to recent allegations of pressure in the ecosystem.
The ESL FACEIT Group is owned by Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Beyond its Counter-Strike circuit, the group is also involved in operating larger-scale initiatives such as the Esports World Cup (EWC) in Riyadh.
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