VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 begins in January.
Riot Games has revealed the official details for the 2025 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) season, bringing changes to the season’s length and the qualification process for VALORANT Champions in Paris.
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International Leagues
The 2025 season will see 12 teams per league in EMEA, Pacific, CN, and Americas, up from 11 teams last year. New additions include Apeks (EMEA), BOOM Esports and Nongshim RedForce (Pacific), XLG Esports (CN), and 2GAME Esports (Americas).
For context, Ascension Pacific winners Sin Prisa Gaming will compete under the Nongshim RedForce organization moving forward, while Ascension Pacific runners-up BOOM Esports replace the spot previously held by the now-removed Bleed Esports due to not complying with Riot Games’ Team Participation Agreement and other critical requirements as part of the VCT partnered teams.
The season will kick off a month earlier than in 2024, with the following dates for the Kickoff tournaments across all international leagues:
- January 11 – VCT CN
- January 15 – VCT EMEA
- January 16 – VCT Americas
- January 18 – VCT Pacific
The season opens with the Kickoff tournament, featuring a 12-team double-elimination bracket. The top four teams from 2024 who qualified to Champions Seoul will receive a bye to Round 2, with the eventual top two teams qualifying for VALORANT Masters Bangkok, the first international event of the season.
- Regular Season
- Stage 1 Regular Season: March 22 to April 25
- Two groups of six teams will compete, with the Mid-Season playoffs happening from March 3-16 to determine the top three teams who will move on to VALORANT Masters Toronto.
- Stage 2 Regular Season: July 12 to August 15
- Following the same group format, the Season Playoffs will take place from August 16-29. Records are no longer carried from Stage 1.
A major change this year for the international leagues is the increase in playoff teams, with both stages now featuring 8 teams instead of 6, along with longer breaks between events to avoid continuous scheduling without rest. Groups will be shuffled for stage 2, aiming for better-balanced matchups leading up to the final playoffs of the season.
Global Events
VALORANT Masters Bangkok: February 20 to March 2
This will be the first international event hosted in Southeast Asia, featuring an eight-team Swiss format, similar to Masters Madrid. The top four teams will advance to the double-elimination playoffs.
VALORANT Masters Toronto: June 7 to 22
Returning to the Americas, this event will feature the top three teams from Stage 1 Playoffs from each international league. The top seed from each region will receive a direct bye to the eight-team double-elimination playoffs, while the other teams will compete first in an eight-team Swiss stage.
VALORANT Champions Paris: September 12 to October 5
The prestigious year-end event will feature a group stage with four groups of four teams, followed by an eight-team double-elimination playoff.
However, this year only two teams will qualify from the Stage 2 Playoffs, with the remaining two spots awarded based on Championship Points for each international league. Teams will earn Championship Points by winning matches in international leagues and competing in global events, with events closer to VALORANT Champions Paris awarding more points. For example, winning the Stage 2 Playoffs will grant more points than winning Masters Bangkok.
“Similar to last year, Championship points will be distributed across every stage and competition. Our goal is to make sure all parts of the season have high-stakes and are of consequence. To address this we’re making two important changes: deeper points distribution at Masters and Playoffs and making stages self-contained, giving all teams a fresh start midway through the season.
We’re also changing the qualification paths to Champions. Now, two teams will qualify from stage 2 playoffs (all teams have a chance to grab these two slots, no matter how you performed earlier in the season); and two teams qualify from Championship Points (valuing strong results from early in the season).”
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Cover photo courtesy of VALORANT Esports
