The International Esports Federation has announced that it has cleared all its outstanding financial obligations and is now debt-free. This development marks the resolution of a dispute that arose when member federations accused the organization of withholding prize money from its 2024 world championship in order to settle previous debts.
IESF President Vlad Marinescu expressed optimism about the future in a statement released on Wednesday, stating, “IESF is back, debt-free, focused, and prepared for what lies ahead. We confronted our challenges head-on, took accountability, and fulfilled all our commitments. While the journey was not without its difficulties, it was essential, and today IESF stands on firm ground.”
Although the announcement confirms the settlement of the debts, it does not disclose specific details such as the amount owed, the recipients of the payments, the timeframe involved, or the source of the funds used for repayment. Furthermore, there is no mention of whether the creditors were prize winners, employees, vendors, or host cities, and no accompanying financial statement has been provided.
This announcement comes at a time when the competition calendar appears unusually sparse.
According to IESF’s events database, there were no IESF-organized competitions scheduled for 2026. The federation’s calendar for the year only includes two entries, both of which are conferences: the World Esports Summit 2025 in Busan on Feb. 10-11, and the World Esports Summit 2026, set to take place in the same city in October. The remaining entries for 2026 belong to member national federations in Portugal, Morocco, and Malaysia. Notably, the summit series is running a year behind its name, with the 2025 and 2026 editions occurring eight months apart within the same calendar year.
Unlike previous years, there is no World Esports Championship, no continental championship, and no regional qualifier series listed on the calendar. In the preceding four years, IESF had organized a world championship and a regional qualifier series annually.
The absence of scheduled events is not attributed to a formal hiatus. In October 2025, IESF had confirmed that its 2025 championship would focus solely on Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in Kuala Lumpur. At that time, it had also announced that other official WEC titles, including Counter-Strike, Dota 2, PUBG Mobile, and eFootball, would follow in the first half of 2026, with details on host cities and dates to be revealed shortly. However, as of now, these events have not been scheduled or announced, despite the first half of 2026 having ended almost two months ago.
The recent announcement from Wednesday paints a different picture. Marinescu highlighted “a growing international calendar” and emphasized the expansion of international activities in the future.
It is worth noting that the championship organized by IESF in Kuala Lumpur featured significantly reduced prize pools compared to previous years. The event offered a $65,000 prize pool for the open division and $35,000 for the women’s division, totaling $100,000 for a single game title. In contrast, the 2024 championship in Riyadh, where the financial issues surfaced, had secured a $1 million prize pool across four titles, representing a substantial increase compared to previous editions.
The financial concerns came to light during the Riyadh championship. Reports indicated that Portugal’s national federation had earned $70,000 at the event but had only received $59,500 in payments. IESF had attributed the shortfall to a 15% government withholding tax applied by the Saudi Esports Federation, resulting in a reduced prize pool distribution. The handling of the situation was criticized by some federations, who viewed it as inequitable treatment and called for the resignation of the board and secretariat.
IESF later reversed the deduction in June 2025, citing discrepancies in accounting systems, invoice timing, payments, and financial balancing. The Audit, Risk, and Governance Committee was tasked with conducting a final review to ensure that all affected nations received the remainder of their winnings.
Despite the challenges faced, Boban Totovski, the general secretary mentioned in the resignation calls, continues to hold his position within IESF. He was listed as the general secretary in the speaker materials for the World Esports Summit 2026.
Marinescu, who previously served as IESF president from 2020 to 2023, resigned in October 2023, paving the way for HRH Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud to assume the presidency. Marinescu was re-elected to the post in December 2025. The financial disputes and subsequent distress reports originated during Prince Faisal’s tenure, although IESF has not publicly disclosed the specific period covered by the settled obligations.
Further reports from May 2025 indicated that IESF had depleted its reserves, leading to staff layoffs. The federation was reportedly in negotiations for a $10 million hosting agreement with Lviv, Ukraine. However, the deal fell through, and it is unclear whether any advance payment made by Lviv was returned.
Since the December 2025 election, IESF has focused on procedural matters rather than financial disclosures. The federation highlighted that member federations approved audited financial reports at its Extraordinary General Meeting in March, reinforcing confidence in IESF’s financial governance. Despite this, the audited reports have not been made public, and the newly redesigned iesf.org website does not feature a section for financial documents.
Notably, this recent announcement is not the first time that IESF has declared the matter resolved. A previous statement titled “IESF Completes Settlement of Outstanding Prize Funds,” dated March 10, indicated that all outstanding prize funds from previous events had been fully settled with teams and national federations. However, this statement is no longer accessible on the federation’s website due to a site redesign that resulted in broken links.
Looking ahead, IESF has secured a host city and is actively pursuing further opportunities in this regard. The federation signed an agreement in July to host the 2027 World Esports Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan, in collaboration with the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Qazaq Cybersport Federation. The financial details of this agreement have not been disclosed.
Earlier in the year, Nurassyl Medeu was appointed as the development director, tasked with acquiring events, engaging host cities, forming strategic partnerships, and driving long-term ecosystem growth. The federation’s strategy appears to rely on securing funding from host governments, a model that other entities in the esports industry are also exploring.
Despite these developments, many questions remain unanswered, including the total amount settled by IESF, the identities of the creditors, the period covered by the obligations, the funding sources, the potential publication of the audited reports from March, the status of unpaid 2024 prize money, the resolution of the reported Lviv advance, and the scheduling of any IESF competitions before the 2027 event in Astana.
While being debt-free is a significant achievement, the focus now shifts to how IESF plans to generate revenue and sustain its financial stability in the coming years, a crucial consideration for the numerous national federations under its umbrella.