The Valorant Champions Tour 2025 is where Valorant's best players and teams compete for glory. This year, two Masters will be played in Bangkok and Toronto, while the best-16 teams of the season will travel to Paris to compete in the Valorant Champions 2025.
However, with so many competitions and teams, it's easy to get lost. For this reason, we have decided to write the ultimate Valorant Champions Tour 2025 guide, including information about the competitions, their format, prize pools, teams, and more.
If you're a die-hard Valorant fan, you don't want to miss this one out! Here's everything you need to know about the Valorant Champions Tour 2025:
Valorant Champions Tour 2025 Schedule
The Valorant Champions Tour 2025 Schedule will be a tight one as the off-season has been reduced.
Here's a brief look at how the VCT 2025 Schedule looks like as of now:
- Kickoff: January and February
- Valorant Masters Bangkok: February and March
- International League Stage 1: March to May
- Valorant Masters Toronto: June
- International League Stage 2: July and August
- Valorant Champions 2025: September and October
- Valorant Game Changers: November
Keep on reading to know more about the Valorant Champions Tour 2025 and everything that will come this year!
International System
The Valorant Champions Tour 2025 includes four regional leagues with twelve teams each — ten partner teams and two Ascension teams.
The four regional leagues included in the VCT 2025 system are the following:
- Americas League: Covers North and South America. It's based in Los Angeles, California, United States, and the matches are played at the Riot Games Arena.
- EMEA League: Covers Europe, Middle East, and North Africa. It's based in Berlin, Germany, and the matches are played at the Riot Games Arena.
- Pacific League: Covers Asia and Oceania outside of Mainland China and West Asia. It's based in Seoul, South Korea, and the matches are played at the COEX Stadium.
- China League: Covers Mainland China and West Asia. It's based in Shanghai, China, and the matches are played at the VCT CN Arena.
Regional leagues are divided into two: Kickoff and International League. These offer a path to compete at VCT 2025 international competitions, including the Valorant Masters Bangkok, the Valorant Masters Toronto, and the Valorant Champions 2025.
Additionally, regional leagues also offer Championship Points. By the end of the season, the two teams with the most Championship Points in each region will qualify for the Valorant Champions 2025.
Keep on reading to know more about the phases included in the regional league system.
Kickoff
Kickoff is the first phase of the VCT 2025 season. It's played between January 11 and February 9.
Here's the starting and finishing date of each VCT 2025 Kickoff League:
- VCT 2025 Americas Kickoff: January 16 to February 8
- VCT 2025 EMEA Kickoff: January 15 to February 9
- VCT 2025 Pacific Kickoff: January 18 to February 9
- VCT 2025 China Kickoff: January 11 to January 25
Each Kickoff consists of a double-elimination bracket with BO3 matches. Only the Lower Bracket Final and the Grand Final follow a BO5 format. By the conclusion of the Kickoff phase, the two-best teams from each region qualify for the Valorant Masters Bangkok.
In Kickoff, there are only 7 Championship Points up for grabs. These are divided between the four-best teams from each region as it follows:
- 1st: 3 Championship Points
- 2nd: 2 Championship Points
- 3rd and 4th: 1 Championship Point
International League
The International League is divided into Stage 1 and Stage 2. Each region has its International League. While Stage 1 is played between March and May, Stage 2 is played between July and August.
The format used in both stages is the following:
- Group Stage: The twelve teams from each International League are divided into two round-robin groups of six teams each. The four-best teams from each group advance to the playoffs.
- Playoffs: While the playoffs format should be the same in both stages, it's important to make a difference between them.
- Stage 1: The best three teams from each International League will qualify for the Valorant Masters Toronto.
- Stage 2: The best two teams from each International League will qualify for the Valorant Champions 2025 and will join the two-best teams from each divisional Championship Standings.
Here's how Championship Points will be given to teams in both stages:
- Stage 1:
- 1st: 5 Championship Points
- 2nd: 3 Championship Points
- 3rd: 2 Championship Points
- 4th: 1 Championship Point
- Stage 2:
- 3rd: 4 Championship Points
- 4th: 3 Championship Points
It's important to mention that teams from Ascension will compete under a specific combination of rules, including:
- Finishing between 9th and 12th place: The team automatically relegates back to the VCL.
- Finishing between 5th and 8th place: The team is allowed to compete at Ascension to retain their VCT spot.
- Finishing in the Top 4: The team retains its VCT spot for the following year.
After debriefing the regions included in the VCT 2025 circuit, it's time to do the same with Masters and Champions.
Masters
Masters is the second-most important international competition of the calendar. There are two Masters events in the calendar, including Valorant Masters Bangkok and Valorant Masters Toronto.
Valorant Masters Bangkok
The Valorant Masters Bangkok will take place in Bangkok, Thailand. It will include eight teams, which will clinch a spot through the previously explained Kickoff.
The competition is divided in two phases: Swiss Stage and Playoffs. Keep on reading to know more about them.
- Swiss Stage: The first round includes a top-seed team playing against a second-seed team from a different region. After that, each winner in round one play against another winner. The first two teams to win two games qualify for the playoffs. Meanwhile, the four losers in round one play against another loser. The two winners of those matches move to round three, while the losers are knocked out. The two winners in round three move to the playoffs.
- Playoffs: The playoff stage consists of a double-elimination bracket with BO3 matches, except for the Lower Bracket Final and the Grand Final.
The Valorant Masters Bangkok will have a prize pool of USD$500,000, which will be divided as follows:
- 1st: USD$250,000
- 2nd: USD$100,000
- 3rd: USD$65,000
- 4th: USD$30,000
- 5th and 6th: USD$15,000
- 7th and 8th: USD$10,000
Additionally, teams will be able to add Championship Points to their respective tallies. The Valorant Masters Bangkok will offer 11 Championship Points, divided as follows:
- 1st: 5 Championship Points
- 2nd: 3 Championship Points
- 3rd: 2 Championship Points
- 4th: 1 Championship Point
Valorant Masters Toronto
The Valorant Masters Toronto will be played in Toronto, Canada. It will include twelve teams, will clinch a spot through the first stage of the International Leagues.
While the format hasn't been confirmed yet, we expect Riot Games to use the format used at the Valorant Masters Shanghai. In this competition, the top-seeds from each region directly qualified for the playoffs while the second and third-seeds had to play a Swiss Stage first.
As soon as the format is confirmed, we will update this piece with the official information.
The Valorant Masters Toronto will have a prize pool of USD$1M, which will be divided as follows:
- 1st: USD$350,000
- 2nd: USD$200,000
- 3rd: USD$125,000
- 4th: USD$75,000
- 5th and 6th: USD$50,000
- 7th and 8th: USD$35,000
- 9th and 10th: USD$25,000
- 11th and 12th: USD$15,000
Additionally, teams will be able to add Championship Points to their respective tallies. The Valorant Masters Toronto will offer 23 Championship Points, divided as follows:
- 1st: 7 Championship Points
- 2nd: 5 Championship Points
- 3rd: 4 Championship Points
- 4th: 3 Championship Points
- 5th and 6th: 2 Championship Points
Champions
Champions is the most important international competition of the year. The Valorant Champions 2025 will be played in Paris, France, between September 12 to October 5.
The tournament will include 16 teams, four from each region. While the format hasn't been confirmed yet, we expect Riot Games to use the format used at the Valorant Champions 2024. There, Riot Games divided the teams into four groups of four teams each. The two-best teams in each group qualified for a double-elimination playoff system.
The Valorant Champions 2025 will have a prize pool of USD$2,25M, which will be divided as follows:
- 1st: USD$1M
- 2nd: USD$400,000
- 3rd: USD$250,000
- 4th: USD$130,000
- 5th and 6th: USD$85,000
- 7th and 8th: USD$50,000
- 9th to 12th: USD$30,000
- 13th to 16th: USD$20,000
Is your dream becoming a professional and competing against the best Valorant players in the world? Well, if that's your goal, you will have to make your way through Challenger League and Ascension first.
Challenger League
The Challenger League includes 14 minor regional leagues. For the first time ever, VCT Partner Teams have been allowed to operate academy teams that won't be eligible for Ascension.
Here are all of the minor regional leagues included in the Challenger League system:
- Americas: three minor regional leagues including North America (United States and Canada), Brazil, and Latin America, which is divided into two sub-regions (Latin America North and Latin America South).
- EMEA: six minor regional leagues including Northern, East, and Central Europe, which is divided into two sub-regions (Northern Europe and Eastern and Central Europe), Spain, France and Benelux, DACH (Deutschland, Austria, Confoederatio Helvetica), Turkey, and MENA, which is divided into two sub-regions (GCC and Levant).
- Pacific: five minor regional leagues including South Asia, Southeast Asia, South Korea, Japan, and Oceania.
- China: China doesn't have a Challenger League, instead teams must go through an exhaustive verification process.
Ascension
Each international league has an Ascension tournament, which feature the best Challenger League teams. The winners of each Ascension are promoted to the International League.
It's important to mention that the Ascension runner-up team can also qualify but, for that to happen, the team would need the two current Ascension teams in VCT 2025 to finish among the top flight's last three seeds.
Valorant Game Changers
Last but definitely not least we have the Valorant Game Changers, which includes women's and other marginalized genders.
Unfortunately, no details about the Valorant Game Changers 2025 have been unveiled as of yet.
If you want to stay up-to-date with all the news about Valorant and the VCT 2025, don't forget to bookmark the site and follow us through our social media pages.