Valorant Champions Goes to Shanghai on the Twenty-Fourth of September and It Is the Last One of the Franchise Era
Sixteen teams, two and a quarter million dollars, and the first Champions held in China. Paper Rex are through from Pacific. Fnatic will miss the tournament for the first time in its history.
Valorant Champions 2026 runs from 24 September to 18 October in Shanghai. Sixteen teams, four from each of the four international leagues, play for a 2.25 million dollar prize pool with one million to the winner. It is the first Champions held in China and the last one before the Valorant Champions Tour returns to open qualifiers in 2027.
Qualified so far
| League | Teams |
|---|---|
| China | TYLOO, JD Gaming, EDward Gaming, XLG Esports |
| EMEA | FUT Esports, Team Vitality, Karmine Corp, Team Liquid |
| Pacific | Paper Rex, Nongshim RedForce, two places open |
| Americas | NRG, three places open |
The remaining Pacific and Americas places are settled on 6 September through Stage 2 playoffs and Championship Points.
The Pacific place that matters here
Paper Rex are through. A Singapore-based organisation qualifying early for the last franchised Champions is the regional headline, and Pacific still has two places to hand out.
Fnatic are not going
Fnatic will miss Champions for the first time in the tournament's history. For an organisation that has been a fixture of European Valorant since the game's competitive launch, that is the single most quotable fact of the qualification cycle, and a useful reminder that a franchise slot guarantees a league seat rather than a world championship one.
The end of the franchise era
From 2027 the VCT reverts to open qualification. The franchise model gave partnered organisations guaranteed league participation in exchange for investment and stability. Going back to open qualifiers changes who can reach a world championship and how, and this Shanghai event is the last one played under the old rules.
NRG go in as defending champions from 2025.
Where it sits on Playdash
Playdash carries esports markets across the major circuits, and Valorant is among the most followed in the Pacific region. This is editorial coverage of a tournament announcement rather than a market preview, and no prices are quoted here.
Dates, prize pool, host city, qualified teams and the 2027 format change as published in Valorant Champions Shanghai 2026 qualification coverage. Four places were still undecided at the time of writing. Correct at the time of writing on 30 August 2026.