GeoGuessr World Cup 2024: The best players for the Prestigious Title

From September 11 to 14, the Stockholm City Hall in Sweden will host the most prestigious GeoGuessr esports competition. For its second edition, the GeoGuessr World Cup 2024 will bring together 24 players from around the globe to compete for the title of World Champion.

Unlike last year, where most participants were invited by the publisher based on their past performances and nationality, this time the « pro players » had to go through qualifying rounds starting in February 2024.

A total of 24 competitors have secured their spots for this World Cup, where the level of play has never been higher or more competitive.

For those following from afar, as well as newcomers, we've decided to highlight a few players who are strong contenders for the geography throne and could become the 2024 World Champion.

With insights from streamer GabrielGeoo, a top French player and commentator, as well as predictions from participating professional players, we aim to give you an overview of the favorites for this competition.

GeoGuessr World Cup 2024 Format

The World Cup, like the 2023 edition, is played solo in a 1v1 format across several game modes. In GeoGuessr, the main game modes are:

• Move: The player can navigate the streets in Street View using directional arrows, allowing them to search for their exact location.

• No Move: The player remains stationary but can look around 360° and zoom in to gather as much information as possible about their location.

• NMPZ (No Move, No Pan, No Zoom): The player views a static image of a street or landscape as if it were a photograph, without being able to move, pan, or zoom.

Players have 60 seconds to guess their location on the map. However, if a player confirms their location quickly, their opponent will only have 15 seconds to make their guess. Each match is played in a best-of-2 or best-of-3 format, depending on the tournament's progress.

• Game Modes (Bo3): Move, No Move, NMPZ
• Game Modes (Bo5): Move, No Move, Move, No Move, NMPZ

During a match, both players start with a pool of 6000 health points. Each time a player is closer than their opponent, they inflict damage based on the distance from the exact location.

A match is played in 10 rounds with increasing damage multipliers per round. The player who knocks out their opponent (0 health points) or who has the most health points at the end of the 10 rounds wins the match.

GeoGuessr World Cup 2024 : The Top Contenders

Despite the balanced level of the 24 participants, where any game can turn in an instant, some players seem to have a better chance of claiming the title. Based on competitor predictions, past results, and expert opinions, here are a few key players to watch.

Mathieu « Blinky » Huet

Hailing from France, Blinky is a strong contender for the championship. Recognizable by his benny, Mathieu Huet is considered by the community to be one of the favorites. He is undoubtedly the best player in the world in the « Move » mode.

Blinky has been shining on the GeoGuessr scene for several years, notably winning the Team World Cup in 2022 alongside players Kodiak and Maccem. In the inaugural World Cup 2023, he was defeated in the final in an epic match against the reigning world champion, Consus.

Blinky’s strength lies in his exceptional versatility, being comfortable in almost any country. He also has the ability to decipher information in various alphabets (Bengali, Thai, Cyrillic, Japanese, among others), giving him a significant edge over other competitors.

Radu « Radu C » Casapu

Known as Radu C or RC, this Romanian-American player is clearly one of the world’s best. According to streamer GabrielGeoo, « Radu is probably the best at the moment. ». Indeed, Radu demonstrated perfect play, dominating his opponents during his qualification in Andorra.

Furthermore, as Gabriel notes, Radu completely dominated the « Ford x GeoGuessr Tournament » in the NMPZ format, winning without losing a single round.

Radu Casapu has maintained a top 3 world ranking in GeoGuessr for several months, a remarkable feat given the difficulty of keeping such a position.

Among the 19 professional players surveyed about the top 5 contenders for the 2024 title, Radu was mentioned 18 times.

Patrick « Consus » Noordijk

Of course, it's impossible not to mention the 2023 GeoGuessr World Champion. Patrick Noordijk, known as Consus, is one of the players to watch in order to defend his title.

The Dutch player was one of the few to qualify for the first World Cup, as he was not directly invited by the publisher. A complete player in all 3 game modes, he excels particularly in the « No Move & NMPZ » modes.

Although he was recently defeated by Topotic during the EMEA qualifiers and by Radu in the Ford Tournament in NMPZ, he remains one of the most dangerous players in the competition.

Kiran « Kirania » Reeves

A young prodigy in GeoGuessr, the Australian player Kirania could be a surprise contender. As GabrielGeooo points out:

« Kirania stood out during the Asia/Oceania Championship where the level was particularly high, and he really dominated [...] Specialist in a large country (Australia), he is dangerous against any player and can turn a game around at any moment. »

This is a solid forecast, especially since many professional players included him in their top 5 contenders for the victory.

MK, MKPerson

Recently qualified, American player MK is a serious contender known for his ultra-fast play style and impressive guessing ability. He is quite capable of outperforming any favorite in a match.

A well-rounded player, MK will be the youngest competitor this year. He has distinguished himself with his rank in ranked mode, frequently leading the GeoGuessr leaderboard.

Pro Players Predictions

We asked the qualified professional players to list the five participants most likely to win the GeoGuessr World Cup 2024. Here are their responses, in no particular order:

• The player "Angelo" cannot be present at the World Cup, he is replaced by the Japanese "Shiina".

PLAYERS	PICK	PICK	PICK	PICK	PICK
Gingey	Blinky	Consus	Radu	Orlando	Kirania
Orlando	Blinky	Consus	Radu	MK	Orlando
Chicago geographer	Radu	Consus	Blinky	Debre	MK
Jake Lyons	Blinky	Consus	Radu	Kirania	Topotic
Fau	Radu	Blinky	Zi8gzag	Gingey	Finbarr
Angelo	Radu	Blinky	Crookst	Debre	Swangambit
Kirania	Radu	Blinky	Debre	Bad At Geo	Kirania
sp4ghet	Blinky	Consus	Radu	Crookst	Gingey
Zi8gzag	Blinky	Consus	Radu	Kirania	MK
Eamonn	Blinky	Consus	Radu	MK	Debre
Topotic	Blinky	Consus	Radu	Crookst	Debre
Kratsooo	Radu	MK	Kirania	Blinky	Debre
Finbarr	Blinky	Consus	Radu	Kirania	Bad At Geo
Kodiak	Blinky	Consus	Radu	MK	Bad At Geo
Consus
Debre	Radu	Bad At Geo	Blinky	Consus	MK
Blinky
Mada	Blinky	Consus	Radu	Debre	Kirania
Armani	Bad At Geo	Radu	Gingey	MK	Kirania
Crookst
Swangambit	Jake Lyons	Chicago Geo	Orlando	Fau	Kodiak
Radu C	Blinky	Consus	Radu	Angelo	MK
MK	MK	Radu	Blinky	Consus	Debre
Bad At Geo
Shiina	Radu	Blinky	Debre	MK	Topotic

Top 5 - Player Appearances :

• Radu (20 times)
• Blinky (19 times)
• Consus (14 times)
• MK (11 times)
• Debre (9 times)
• Kirania (8 times)
• Bad at Geo (5 times)
• Gingey, Orlando, Crookst (3 times)
• Topotic (2 times)
• Zi8gzag, Finbarr, Kodiak, Jake Lyons, Swangambit, Angelo (1 time)
  

A big thank you to GabrielGeoo for his assistance on this topic, and we hope to see him in Stockholm to commentate the competition for the French audience. Also, thank you to the players for taking the time to share their predictions.