2026 Valorant Champions Tour

The 2026 Valorant Champions Tour is the sixth season of the Valorant Champions Tour and fourth under the franchised system. The season began on January 15. The first Masters event of the season took place in Santiago, Chile after the Kickoff stage while London, United Kingdom will host the second Masters after Stage 1. The season will culminate with the 2026 Valorant Champions in Shanghai, China, which in turn, will end on October 18.

In VCT Americas, ENVY was promoted from Challengers after finishing first in the Ascension tournament. The team replaced 2Game Esports, who were automatically relegated last season. This will also mark ENVY's return to top-tier Valorant competition, after the team was rebranded to OpTic Gaming in 2022.^[1]

On September 6, 2025, Riot Games removed Movistar KOI's slot at VCT EMEA following the termination of their partnership due to the team's violation of the Team Participation Agreement.^[2] On October 7, Gentle Mates, who were originally going to be relegated, was announced as a new partner team and occupied the vacant slot left by KOI.^[3] BBL PCFIC and Ulf Esports also joined the EMEA league via the Ascension tournament, while Apeks was automatically relegated due to their performance last season.^[4] BBL PCFIC will compete as PCFIC Esports.

On November 18, 2025, Riot removed Talon Esports from both VCT Pacific and the League of Legends Championship Pacific following the termination of their partnership due to financial issues and delayed payments to players and coaches.^[5] Their slot and roster in the VCT would be acquired by FULL SENSE.^[6] SLT was promoted to the Pacific league through the Ascension tournament, replacing BOOM Esports, who finished third in Ascension and failed to retain their slot.^[7] During the off-season, the slot and roster of SLT were acquired by VARREL.

On March 20, 2026, ULF Esports withdrew from VCT EMEA before the start of Stage 1 following the organization's challenges to operate in line with league standards and delayed payments. Their slot and roster would be replaced by Eternal Fire.^[8]

Starting with this season, the Ascension tournament will no longer be held for the Americas, EMEA, and Pacific leagues. Instead, four Challenger teams from each region will participate in the play-ins of Stage 2, giving them a pathway to Champions.

Additionally, the Kickoff stage will feature a triple-elimination format. As a result, the first Masters event of the season has been expanded from eight to twelve teams.^[9]

The China league will also have a full tour throughout the entire 2026 season, with every phase of each stage being hosted in a different city leading up to Champions in Shanghai.

In each International League, the twelve teams will compete in a triple-elimination bracket, composed of upper, middle, and lower brackets. The four teams in each league that qualified for the 2025 Valorant Champions will earn a bye to the upper bracket quarterfinals while the remaining eight teams will start at the first round of the upper bracket. All matches are best-of-three except for the finals of each bracket, where matches are best-of-five.

A team's first loss will move them to the middle bracket (a traditional lower bracket in a double-elimination tournament), a second loss will move them to the lower bracket, and a third loss eliminates the team from competition and contention for Masters Santiago. Winning the upper, middle, or lower bracket finals awards the team the first, second, and third seed at Masters, respectively.^[9][10]

Source: Valorant Esports

Source: Valorant Esports

Source: Valorant Esports

Source: Valorant Esports

Masters Santiago will see twelve teams competing, up from eight compared to the previous two seasons' Kickoff Masters. The format will replicate that of Stage 1 Masters, with the second and third seeds from each International League competing in a Swiss-system tournament while the top seeds earn a bye to the playoffs.^[11]

In each International League, the twelve teams will be divided into two groups, where they will then play a single best-of-three round-robin tournament, with the top four teams advancing to the double-elimination playoffs. The top three teams will start at the upper bracket with the top teams earning a bye to the upper bracket semifinals. The fourth-place teams will start at the lower bracket.

The top three teams in the playoffs will qualify for Masters London.

Stage 2 will replicate Stage 1's round-robin tournament, but with top two teams in each group directly advancing to the playoffs. The remaining teams will compete in the new play-ins, where they will be joined by four teams from their region's Challengers system. The play-ins will be a double-elimination tournament, with the top four teams qualifying for the playoffs, while the remaining teams are eliminated.

Stage 2's playoffs will also replicate that of Stage 1, but with the top two teams qualifying for Champions.^[9]

Throughout the season, teams can gain Championship Points based on performance in their league and Masters events. At the end of Stage 2, the two teams with the most points that haven't qualified through the playoffs will earn their spot at Champions.