In the announcement video
detailing the changes coming to
VALORANT esports in 2026, Product Manager Riley Yurk and Product Lead Bill Pan revealed the four cities that will host the Stage 2 playoffs. Throughout the year, teams across the four
VALORANT Champions Tour regions will battle for a spot at Champions Shanghai, with the final berths decided at Stage 2, which will be played on LAN, away from the leagues’ usual studio environments.
In EMEA, the Season Finals will take place in Madrid, Spain, following a full regular season played under the grey skies of Berlin, Germany, where both the VCT and LEC facilities are located. For VCT Pacific, Busan in South Korea will host the playoffs, while the regular season will remain in Seoul, a change that will likely disappoint many Asian VALORANT fans, who will not get a single international event in the region this year. The VCT Americas Stage 2 playoffs will move to São Paulo, Brazil, replacing the usual Los Angeles stage, with the tournament expected to be held during August.
China will once again follow a different path, with
the entire season being played away from its usual studios. After Guangzhou for the Kickoff, Hangzhou for Stage 1, Beijing for the Stage 1 playoffs, and Changsha for Stage 2, Chengdu will ultimately host the final matches of the 2026 VCT China campaign. On top of all this travel,
VALORANT Champions itself will be staged in Shanghai, where a new world champion will be crowned.
The first Masters event of the year will be held in Santiago, Chile, from February 28 to March 15, while the second Masters will take place in London, England, from June 6 to June 21. With these details confirmed, the revamped
VALORANT esports calendar is now complete. In addition to the partnered VCT teams, Stage 2 playoffs will be open to squads from the Challengers leagues through a
new format that replaces Ascension. Four Tier 2 teams will face the eight lowest-ranked lineups from their respective international leagues in a play-in stage, which will determine four extra playoff participants to join the region’s top organizations.
