Vlad Petrescu

Senior Director Production @ ESL FACEIT Group | Executive Producer Esports World Cup / Esports Nations Cup

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

Seven weeks in Paris. 25 tournaments across 24 games. 47 broadcast languages. And a crew that showed up every single morning.

EWC 2026 wrapped on Sunday, and I don't think the scale of it has fully landed yet. 850M viewers, 440M hours watched, 175K tickets through the door. The first edition outside Riyadh, and Paris genuinely made it its own.

Serving as Executive Producer on this broadcast has been the privilege of my career. I've been with EWC since its earliest days, back when most of this was still whiteboards and open questions, and seeing where it landed in Paris with this group of people is something I won't forget.

The closing day at Accor Arena was the one that will stay with me. Spirit and FUT, a Counter-Strike grand final that went past a million concurrent viewers for the first time in EWC history, and a room that sounded like it.

But the number I keep coming back to isn't in any press release: 550. That's the operational crew it took to put this on air on a given day. Engineers, directors, producers, production managers, coordinators, EVS operators. Long shifts at Porte de Versailles, then the whole thing again for a different game, a different audience, a different rulebook.

Here's a look at what it became. Proud of every single one of you.

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

Week 6 of the Esports World Cup is already done. One word sums up the weekend: rivalry — not just winning, but history, pride and the stories built over years.

Nowhere was that clearer than in Chess.

Magnus Carlsen arrived as reigning champion, the player everyone wanted to beat. In the Grand Final, he met 19-year-old Dennis Lazavik.

Magnus got the job done, as champions do. But Dennis showed remarkable composure on one of esports' biggest stages. It felt less like the end of a tournament than the start of a rivalry that could define the next generation of chess.

That energy ran all weekend — Falcons vs Twisted Minds, KC vs Vitality in Paris, FaZe vs FURIA in an all-Brazilian final.

Now the final week: CS2, Fortnite, CrossFire, Trackmania — four champions to crown, and the Club Championship still alive. Let's make it the most memorable finish yet.

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

EWC26 Week 5 was all about the Club Championship!

This superb mechanic adds another layer of complexity and pressure for players and teams at the Esports World Cup! Not only do you fight for yourself or your teammates, but you also fight for your organization and all your colleagues for the supreme title at EWC26: Club Champions!

Currently, the contenders are Team Falcons and Team https://t.co/dytsiOtpWm and anything is still possible!

https://t.co/dWKrjA4ZPt

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

EWC26 Week 4 was about the fans!

We had every possible emotion at Porte de Versailles, home of the Esports World Cup 2026 Paris edition. Happiness, sorrow, tears of joy and tears of sadness. Across Call of Duty: Warzone, Overwatch, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Street Fighter 6, you could experience the full spectrum of human emotions, condensed in one location and moment in time.

Especially exciting was the path for Jaime "Craime" Bustos, of Team Falcons, who is now the youngest EWC title winner. His win puts Team Falcons back in the race for their third Club Championship title!

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

EWC26 Week 3 review!

This was the week of strong emotions and underdogs winning life-changing money.

Razvan "RvPLegend" Puiu, my fellow Romanian, competed in the FC Pro World Championship at the EWC, coming in ranked 30th. He had so many close calls, being seconds away from elimination multiple times, yet somehow he found the strength to overcome every time.

EWC has been one emotional ride so far!

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

The second week is complete, and it was eventful.

This week focused on the MOBA genre, featuring League of Legends, DOTA 2, and MLBB running in parallel, each showcasing the genre's intricacies. By the end of the week, additional key frames were introduced in the Totem, which serves as a historical record of the Esports World Cup.

Additionally, we highlighted Free Fire, a battle royale game with an impressive daily active player base of over 80 million.

We still have 5 more weeks to go and 18 games to watch, be entertained, and witness esports history being written.

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

@ZypZapCommunity 70 of the 550 are working on the 3 secondary stages.

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

EWC 2026 has relocated to the beautiful city of Paris and is currently in full swing. A total of 550 broadcast professionals are on site, driving production for four main stages, three secondary stages, and the iconic Totem. Additionally, another 250 professionals from around the world are managing the multi-language distribution for the biggest event in esports.

The scale of this is unprecedented in esports production; it took countless hours and thousands of correct decisions to get here. My hat off to every member of this team, from the people sitting next to me in the master control room to the floor managers on the Chinese language production. Awesome job, everybody!

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

@Iza_Sielska @mbCARMAC we are coming for you!

[Bernd Gottsmann @BerndGottsmann]

20+ years in esports & gaming, countless calls, and enough buzzwords to last a lifetime.

@rafal_lawniczak, @xSliferr and I recently started BBR Group — helping brands, publishers & agencies get esports & gaming right without the nonsense.

More fun, fewer slides, actual results!

[Esports Nations Cup @ENC_EN]

It’s not just about glory, it’s about the national pride.

The rise of a new rivalry.

Esports Nations Cup
Riyadh, November 2026

[Esports World Cup @EWC_EN]

https://t.co/QoKpA8ZjYd

[Esports World Cup @EWC_EN]

Breaking! 🔥 Sony becomes a Founding Partner of the Esports World Cup! 🤝

Exciting collabs ahead:
🎵 Sony Music produces the official EWC 2024 anthem
🎥 Sony Pictures creates an EWC docuseries

Let's level up esports together! #EWC #Sony

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

@Elfishguy @Alchemister5 @MC_csgo MC has done more for CS ingame production then anybody. GOAT

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

@JJLiebig We are closer then ever to when our sun will die... we are still 5 billion years away. 😉

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

@MrAdamAp @SirScoots This is the "origin story" of so many people in esports. Passion before anything.

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

@PwnageOfficial would it be possible to answer my email? I only made the order in February, how about a delivery?

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

@PatrykBorowka Lead Producer, not small at all Patryk.

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

Some of the stuff we've done for the biggest esports festival on the planet, #Gamers8!

CS:GO Grand Final at 20:00 AST / 19:00 CEST

https://t.co/L6H0ibeBW4
https://t.co/W3upvysEL5

[Vlad Petrescu @happyvladd]

@iamkateAV You should be.