Participating Teams 

In 2025, teams will participate in a series of league matches and global events to qualify for the Paris Global Championship and compete for the next Valorant World Champion.

We will host the starting matches in each league from January 11 to February 9 to kick off the season.

Starting dates for each league:

January 11 - VCT CN League

January 15 - VCT EMEA League

January 16 - VCT Americas League

January 18 - VCT Pacific League 

The top two teams from each league will directly qualify for the Bangkok Masters, where the leaders of the 2025 season will emerge.

Next, we will enter the first stage of the two league phases. In each league, the top three teams from the first phase playoffs will qualify for the Toronto Masters. The second phase of the league will begin after the Toronto Masters concludes.

The top two teams from the second phase playoffs of each league, plus the two teams leading in Championship points, will compete in the Paris Global Championship.  

What’s New in the VCT 2025 Season? 

We have listened to player feedback and introduced some changes for the 2025 season, some of which were announced during the Global Championship!

Today, we will present the complete details of the new season and discuss the ideas behind these changes. The 2024 season was shorter, with tight intervals between matches, leading to insufficient rest time for teams performing well in global events, while teams performing poorly were eliminated too early in the year. The new schedule will alleviate these two issues. We are excited to extend the entire schedule in 2025, with the season now starting in January and concluding in early October.

In 2025, the number of teams in each league will increase to 12, optimizing the format. At the start of the season, the starting matches will adopt a double-elimination group format with 12 teams, where the top 4 teams from last year (the teams that qualified for the Global Championship) will receive a bye and directly enter the second round. 

As we enter the main phase of the season, our goal is to provide all teams with a reasonable number of base matches while bringing as many exciting and engaging matchups as possible for the teams performing well. In 2025, the total number of matches in the league will increase by 12.5%, while ensuring that each team has at least 12 matches (2 starting matches, 5 matches per phase). The average number of matches per team will increase to about 18, with a maximum of 23 matches (5 starting matches, 5 matches per phase, 4 matches per phase playoffs). Plus some matches from global events. 

New Championship Points System 

As with last year, Championship points will be awarded for each phase and match. Our goal is to ensure that every part of the season is challenging and does not become irrelevant. To this end, we have made two important changes: deepening the point distribution for Masters and playoffs, and making each phase independent, providing new starting points for all teams in the mid-season. 

In the regular season, each victory will still earn 1 point, while major events like starting matches, playoffs, and Masters will reward multiple teams. League playoffs and starting matches will provide points for the top 4 teams, while Bangkok Masters and Toronto Masters will provide points for the top 4 and top 6 teams. 

We have also changed the qualification process for the Global Championship. Now, 2 teams will qualify from the second phase playoffs (all teams have a chance to qualify, regardless of early season performance); 2 teams will qualify through Championship points (valuing outstanding performance in the early season). 

An important change to note is that we will no longer use a complete round-robin format across the first and second phases. Now, each phase will divide the participating teams into two groups, with 6 teams in each group, conducting round-robin matches within the groups, with the top 4 from each group advancing to the playoffs. To bring more balanced matchups in the final playoffs of the season, the groups will be restructured in the second phase.

The playoffs will also increase to 8 teams, allowing more teams to participate in the competition for a longer period. This means that two-thirds of the teams in the league will have a longer season and more opportunities to qualify for global events. The playoffs will adopt a double-elimination format, with the top 2 teams directly entering the second round, and the bottom 2 teams starting from the losers' bracket (with a record of 0-1).

The format for global events will be the same as in previous seasons.

The Bangkok Masters will first have a Swiss round stage with 8 teams, followed by a double-elimination tournament with 4 teams. The Toronto Masters will first have a Swiss round stage with 8 teams (the number one seed from each league will directly enter the next stage), followed by a double-elimination tournament with 8 teams. The Global Championship will first have a group stage with 4 teams in each group, followed by a double-elimination tournament with 8 teams.

48 teams, 3 international events, 1 world champion. Get ready for the VCT 2025 season!