Free Fire was released in 2017 and since then has become one of the most popular battle royale titles on mobile. The game also has a flourishing esports scene, and its featured tournament is the Free Fire World Series (FFWS).
The FFWS is amongst the most watched esports tournaments globally and has set many viewership records. The FFWS was first introduced in 2019 as a year-end tournament. Later in 2021, Garena started hosting it bi-annually. In this article we take a look at the competition’s history and all the past winners.
Image credits: Garena
The FFWS 2019 was the first edition of the tournament. It was played in front of a live audience at the Barra Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Among Free Fire’s biggest regions in terms of playerbase is Latin America and it was only apt for Garena to organize the first edition of the tournament in the region.
Much to the delight of the home crowd, Brazil’s Corinthians were crowned the champions of the event. They walked away with $200,000 of the $400,000 prize pool.
At the time, the peak viewership was a record for mobile esports outside of China.
The FFWS wasn’t played bi-annually in 2019 and 2020. For 2020, the mid-year international event was the FFCC, which was scheduled to happen in Indonesia with 12 teams from around the world.
However, the event had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Image credits: Garena
Just like the FFCS, the FFWS 2020 had to be canceled as well. In its place, Garena hosted the FFCS which was played separately in Asia, EMEA, and the Americas.
Each region awarded $300,000 in prize money with 18 teams competing. It was played online.
The tournament again broke viewership records. The FFCS Asia peaked at 2.5 million viewers while the Americas edition saw 1.7 million viewers, per Esports Charts.
Image credits: Garena
After a long gap, the FFWS finally returned with a LAN event at the Marina Bay Lands, Singapore in 2021. This was the first time that the FFWS was played as a bi-annual event.
Eighteen teams from around the world competed for a share of the $2 million prize pool. Thailand’s Phoenix Force emerged as the champions ahead of Brazilian favorites LOUD.
The FFWS 2021 peaked at 5.4 million viewers, according to Esports, making it the most-watched esports tournament in history (outside China).
With another wave of the pandemic causing a rise in COVID-19 cases, the FFWS’ second edition of the year was canceled.
While Garena hadn’t officially confirmed it, the tournament was rumored to take place in Mexico.
“The World Series stands as Free Fire’s largest and most exciting esports offline tournament. The growing safety concerns, however, have made it challenging to provide players and fans both an enjoyable yet safe offline esports experience.”
Garena said at the time
Image credits: Garena
After a gap, Free Fire’s global competition resumed in Singapore again. The FFWS 2022 Sentosa took place at the Resort World Sentosa Convention Center on May 14 and 21.
In this edition, Thailand showed its domination by sealing the top two positions. Attack All Around came in first and were followed by EVOS Phoenix.
The FFWS 2022 had a peak viewership of 1.4 million, per Esports Charts. This is a stark drop from the numbers it pulled just a year ago.
Much of this can be blamed on the omission of Indian teams at the event. This was because Free Fire was banned by India’s government earlier in the year due to data privacy concerns.
CIS teams also didn’t compete owing to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Image credits: Garena
The home team from Thailand, EVOS Phoenix, went on to become the champions of the tournament. They received a sum of $500,000 in earnings, with Ratchanon “Moshi” Kunrayason becoming the MVP of the tournament. The team from Brazil Keyd Stars were the runners-up and took home a sum of $250,000. The team in third place was another team from the country of Thailand, known as Nigma Galaxy.
Image credits: Garena
Seeing the success of FFWS 2022 in Bangkok and the appreciation from the community, the tournament was hosted in Bangkok once again. This time, the tournament took place for over two weeks in an offline setting. The event took place between November 10 and 26th, 2023. During this tournament, the top 18 teams from around the world face off against each other to win a part of the $1 million prize pool.
This year, the winners were the team from Brazil known as Magic Squad. They took home a prize of $300,000 as the champions of the tournament. The team that finished as runners-up was the reigning champions, Buriram United Esports. Following FFWS 2022, the team of EVOS Phoenix joined Buriram United Esports and won a sum of $150,000.
The MVP of FFWS 2023 Bangkok was Rattapong “DEW” Rompochai from EXP Esports. This tournament was the start of the tides shifting to the dominance of teams from Brazil rather than from Thailand.
Image credits: Garena
With the FFWS 2023 reigning champions being from Brazil, Garena made the choice to return to Brazil after five years for FFWS 2024. The last time they hosted the FFWS in Brazil was in 2019, with the home team of Corinthians becoming the champions. The tournament was hosted in two locations: the knockout stage was hosted at the Rio Centro Convention, while the point rush stage and grand finals were hosted at Carioca Arena 1. The tournament had a prize pool of $1,000,000 with 18 teams from around the world facing off against each other to be crowned champions.
The Champions of FFWS 2024 were the team from Brazil: Fluxo. The team of Fluxo consists of the core of the reigning champions, Magic Squad. Thus making the likes of Tiago “Bops” Carvalho, Pedro “But” Borges & Giuliano Giuh.87″ Júnior back-to-back champions. The team of Fluxo earned a sum of $300,000 for becoming the champions of FFWS 2024.
The finals MVP of the tournament was Tiago “Bops” Carvalho, who received an additional sum of $10,000. The runners-up of the tournament were RRQ Kazu, while Buriram United Esports finished in third place.
Image credits: Garena
After a long time, Garena decided to host the Free Fire World Series in a new country, settling on Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2025, there were two tournaments of FFWS hosted: Global Finals 2025 & Clash Squad. Similar to previous years’ events, the tournament had a prize pool of $1 million with 18 teams from around the world competing in it.
The grand finals were hosted at the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta on November 15th. The tournament took place over a span of 16 days. According to Garena, FFWS 2025 featured 618,778 participants, setting a new Guinness World Record for the largest mobile team-based esports tournament.
This year, the Champions of the tournament were the team from Thailand – Buriram United Esports. The runner-ups of FFWS 2025 were the reigning champions from Brazil: Fluxo. With this Championship victory, Chirasak “JOENA” Moonsarn became a three-time world champion in Free Fire Esports, having won the tournament in 2021, 2022, and 2025.
His teammates Rachata “GETHIGH” Saethian and Ratchanon “Moshi” Kunrayason became two-time world champions. The team of Buriram United Esports earned a sum of $300,000. The player who received the Grand Finals MVP & the Predator of the tournament was Mariwat “Wassana” Panyawai from Buriram United Esports, earning a sum of $15,000.
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