VALORANT Champions 2026 Runs September 24 to October 18 in Shanghai as the Last Franchised World Final
Sixteen teams, four from each international league, meet in China for the first time. It is also the final Champions before the VCT drops franchising for open qualifiers in 2027.
With Stage 2 playoffs wrapped up across the four international leagues in mid-August, the shape of VALORANT's season finale is coming into focus. Champions 2026 runs from 24 September to 18 October in Shanghai, the first time China has hosted the event.
Sixteen teams, four regions
The field is split evenly: four teams each from VCT Americas, VCT China, VCT EMEA and VCT Pacific. Each region sends its Stage 1 and Stage 2 playoff winners directly, with the remaining places decided on Championship Points accumulated across the season.
EDward Gaming are through from China and Paper Rex are through from Pacific, both on points. The rest of the bracket fills out as the regional Stage 2 results are finalised.
NRG go in as reigning champions after winning in 2025. Before them it was EDward Gaming in 2024 and Evil Geniuses in 2023 — three different regions in three years, which is a reasonable argument that this tournament is genuinely open.
The format
Four groups of four run GSL-style double elimination, with the top two from each group advancing to a playoff bracket. Every series is best-of-three except the grand final, which is best-of-five. The nearly four-week run time is long by VALORANT standards and is the longest Champions to date.
Why this one is a full stop
This is the last Champions under the franchise system. From 2027 the VCT moves to an open qualifier structure, which means partnered slots stop being a guarantee and the path into international play opens to teams outside the current 12-per-region partner lists.
That reframes what a Champions title is worth in 2026. For the partnered organisations it is the last trophy won inside a closed competitive system; for everyone else, the roster market after October is about to get considerably more volatile.
Shanghai as a host
China hosting Champions matters for viewership more than for the competition. Chinese-language broadcasts on domestic platforms have consistently pushed VALORANT's peak concurrent figures well past what the international streams show on their own, and a home event with EDward Gaming in the field is the best conditions the game has had for a record.
Following it on Playdash
Playdash covers Champions from the group stage through the grand final, with match winner, map handicap, correct map score and total-maps markets, alongside tournament outrights and region-of-winner specials. Group pricing updates between series, and the grand final on 18 October is covered as a standalone event.
Dates, format and qualification details as confirmed through 19 August 2026.