Riot Games announced first details and tentative plans for Valorant esports in 2025 on Tuesday. The 2025 Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) season officially begins in January with more teams, an expanded format, and a revamped calendar that runs into October. Highlights include 12-team regional leagues, a revamped Championship Points system, and an extended season that ends in October.
Starting in January 2025, the global ecosystem for Valorant esports will include 2 teams across each regional league—EMEA, Pacific, CN, and Americas competing from January to October.
Leagues will begin competition with a Kickoff on the following dates:
- Jan. 11, 2025: VCT CN
- Jan. 15, 2025: VCT EMEA
- Jan. 16, 2025: VCT Americas
- Jan. 18, 2025: VCT Pacific
The Kickoff events will feature a 12-team double elimination format, with top four (4) teams from 2024 getting a bye to Round 2. The top two (2) teams from each region will then advance to Masters Bangkok (Feb. 20 – March 2). Masters Bangkok will see the top 2 (2) teams from each league compete in an 8-team swiss stage, followed by a 4-team double elimination playoff.
Next on the calendar will be the Masters Toronto (June 7 – 22), which will see the top three (3) teams from the Stage 1 Playoffs (12 total) compete in a 8-team swiss stage (with the number one seed from each international league getting a bye to the next stage), followed by an 8-team double elimination playoff.
Finally, the season will conclude with Champions Paris (Sept. 12 – Oct. 5), which will feature top teams from Stage 2, Championship Points, and global events. Champions Paris will use a Group Stage featuring four 4-team groups, followed by an 8-team double elimination playoff.
Riot said that the revamped Championship Point System will now award points to teams at every stage and global event, and the league will feature new qualification paths (two teams will qualify from Stage 2 Playoffs and two teams qualify based on Championship Points).
Ultimately, 2025 will see 48 teams compete globally in the league to make it to three international events. More details on the new format, dates, and more can be found in this official blog post or in the video below.