2026 Valorant Champions

2026 Valorant Champions

Tournament information
Sport	Valorant
Location	Shanghai, China
Administrator	Riot Games
Venue	TBD
Teams	16

The 2026 Valorant Champions is an upcoming esports tournament for the first-person tactical hero shooter video game Valorant. It will be the sixth iteration of Valorant Champions, the world championship tournament of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) organised by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament will be held in Shanghai, China.

It will be China's first hosting of the tournament and the second international Valorant competition to be held both in the country and in Shanghai. This will also be the final Champions tournament in the franchise era as the VCT will return to an open qualifier format in 2027.

NRG from Americas are the reigning champions heading into the event.

"If The Sun Burns Out Tonight" is the tournament's theme song, performed by Grabbitz, Oli Sykes, and Courtney LaPlante.

Host selection

On 1 August 2025, Riot Games announced that the 2026 edition of Champions will take place in Shanghai, China. This is the second time Shanghai hosts a Valorant's global event after Masters in 2024.

Venue

Shanghai, China
Group Stage	Playoffs
Jing'an Sports Center	Mercedes-Benz Arena
Capacity: 5,600	Capacity: 18,000
Shanghai

Qualification

Sixteen teams, including eight teams (seed 1/2) that finished in the top two of Stage 2, and eight teams (seed 3/4) that were out of top two but had most Championship Points in season of all three International Leagues (Americas, EMEA, Pacific) and China League, qualified for the event.

(*) Non-partner teams in franchise system

Region	Stage 2 Winner	Stage 2 Runners-up	Championship Points #1	Championship Points #2		Qualified but seeds are not decided yet
Americas						NRG, G2 Esports
EMEA	Karmine Corp	Team Liquid	FUT Esports	Team Vitality		Seeding has been done
Pacific						Nongshim RedForce*, Paper Rex
China	TYLOO	JD Gaming	Edward Gaming	Xi Lai Gaming*		Seeding has been done