Blizzard Entertainment has extended its competition committee application deadline for the upcoming Overwatch World Cup 2026.
Applicants are now open until February 6th to potentially be part of the esports series and can be submitted through a Google Form.
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The Overwatch World Cup is an international esports tournament for the hero shooter Overwatch 2, where teams representing different countries compete to be crowned champion. The last edition of the event was held in 2023, the same year the Overwatch League was shuttered.
The applications will help decide the competition committees for 2026. In the past, committees were responsible for hosting try-outs while managing a national team’s operations. These are generally comprised of a General Manager, Head Coach and Social Lead for each country.
According to the Google Form, committee members can earn ‘an equal share of the prize pool’ that an Overwatch World Cup team might win.
Blizzard Entertainment requires three members, one for each role, to apply together in a single submission. This is to avoid the need for a separate committee selection, as applicants will already be ‘willing and wanting to work together’. The Google Form can therefore be filled by either a group of esports enthusiasts or an organisation.
Committee applications have been open since November 2025 and were originally due on January 16th.
What to Expect from the Overwatch World Cup 2026
The developers have previously released an in-depth breakdown of the Overwatch World Cup, which is making its anticipated return for 2026.
A total of 30 teams, including 19 invited and 11 Wildcards, will compete this year. Invited teams were decided based on the top 16 organisations from the 2023 Overwatch World Cup, along with the top three teams from EMEA. Wildcard teams, on the other hand, will be decided through the newly introduced Conference Cups.
Spring 2026 will see the team selection process begin, with rosters set to be unveiled before the regional Conference Cups in March.
The Conference Cups will take place in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia, each of which will feature an open format where approved Wildcard teams will play via esports platform FACEIT for a place in the Online Qualifiers.
The Online Qualifiers will start in the summer, featuring 28 teams divided into conference groupings, which includes AMER A/B, EMEA A/B/C, ASIA A/B. The top two teams from each group will advance to the live Group Stage to face the 2023 champion and runner-up, Saudi Arabia and China. However, the location of the stage has yet to be announced.
During the Group Stage, 16 teams will be divided into four equal groups and compete in a single round-robin format. The leading two teams from each group will then advance to the Finals.
The Overwatch World Cup will end with the Finals, which will take place at BlizzCon 2026. Eight teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament to decide the champions of 2026.
Source: https://esportsinsider.com/2026/01/committee-applications-february-6th-overwatch-world-cup-2026
