PlayTime from South America secures the final direct invite to the 2026 Esports World Cup for Dota 2.

South American team PlayTime (formerly paiN Gaming) pulled off a major upset by defeating BetBoom Team in DreamLeague Season 29, advancing to the top six of the tournament.

This victory earned PlayTime 2,200 ESL Pro Tour (EPT) points, allowing them to surpass Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro, and OG on the leaderboard and officially secure the last direct invite to the Dota 2 event at the 2026 Esports World Cup in Paris (EWC).

PlayTime thus became the only South American team to receive a direct invite. Previously, their path to the playoffs was not smooth; they entered the DreamLeague with a meager number of points from the start of the season and struggled to reach the lower bracket of the playoffs with a 3-4 record in the group stage.

However, the team then went on a roll, eliminating group leaders Natus Vincere and BetBoom Team, a formidable opponent who had just won the PGL Wallachia Season 8 championship a month earlier.

With PlayTime's addition, the 14 directly invited teams for this year's Esports World Cup have been finalized. They will compete against 13 top directly invited teams, including Team Spirit, Tundra, Xtreme Gaming, and Team Liquid, as well as Vici Gaming, who qualified through the Chinese regional qualifiers.

The remaining 10 spots will be determined through qualifiers in other regions, where 24 teams will compete for a total prize pool of $2 million.

The tournament will be held in Paris, France, from July 6th to 18th. PlayTime's journey continues, and they will face a tough opponent, Team Falcons, later today.

Image source: Internet