Riot Games has officially lifted the veil on the host cities for VCT China 2026, confirming a travelling
“on the road” format that will see the league move through several major Chinese cities over the course of the year. The concept itself is not new: in early October 2025, during the VCT 2026 presentation at the
Champions Finals in Paris, Riot had already outlined its plan for VCT CN to “go on tour” specifying that China would be the only region to run its entire 2026 circuit as a roadshow across five cities, in what was presented as a particularly ambitious programme for a single league.
A few weeks later, in a
season-end update published on 16 December 2025,
Leo Faria reiterated this approach, stressing its intention to
“hit the road” in order to multiply in-person events. The publisher again clarified that, in China, the entire 2026 season would be staged across five different cities, with further details on the exact locations to follow:
The official announcement of the venues has now put concrete names to that tour. The regional calendar will open with the Kickoff event in Guangzhou, followed by the Stage 1 regular season in Hangzhou. Teams will then head to Beijing for the Stage 1 playoffs. For the second half of the year, VCT CN will move to Changsha for the Stage 2 regular season, before concluding the domestic portion of the circuit with the Stage 2 playoffs in Chengdu.
Finally, the season will wrap up with
VALORANT Champions 2026 in Shanghai, a choice Riot had already confirmed earlier. With these five cities announced, Riot has formalised a 2026 season designed as a series of arena events across multiple destinations rather than a format concentrated in a single central hub.
