The Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) is a worldwide esports competition for the video game Valorant, created by Riot Games, the game's developers. The tour includes several events during each season, with the final event being Valorant Champions. The VCT was introduced in 2020, and its first season took place in 2021.

History

In November 2020, Riot Games introduced the first Valorant Champions Tour (VCT), a tournament series with three levels: Challengers, Masters, and Champions. Challengers was the lowest level, divided into seven regions: North America, Brazil, Latin America, EMEA, Southeast Asia (later expanded to include South Asia and Oceania, forming the Asia-Pacific region), Korea, and Japan. Teams that advanced from Challengers moved to Masters, where teams were no longer grouped by region. The top 16 teams from Masters qualified for Champions, the final VCT tournament. In February 2021, Riot launched VCT Game Changers, an additional tournament for women and other marginalized genders.

Riot hired Nerd Street Gamers to organize and produce all North American Challengers and Masters events. Other companies, such as Liga de Videojuegos Profesional (LVP) for Spanish-language broadcasts and LetsPlay.Live for Oceania broadcasts, were also used to stream events. The 2021 Champions tournament took place from December 1 to 12 at the Verti Music Hall in Berlin, Germany. Team Acend won the grand finals by defeating Gambit Esports with a score of 3–2.

Over 10,000 teams participated in the VCT in 2021. Outside of Champions, the highest viewership occurred during the Reykjavík Masters tournament in May, with 1,085,850 viewers at its peak. The Champions grand finals in December reached 1,089,068 viewers, the highest peak for VCT.

Riot changed the VCT format for its second version. While Challengers, Masters, and Champions remained, the number of stages in Challengers and Masters was reduced from three to two. The 2022 VCT Challengers began on February 11, 2022. The 2022 Champions Tournament was held from September 1 to 18 in Istanbul, Turkey.

In 2023, Riot introduced a new format. The season was divided into three international regions—Americas, EMEA, and Pacific—replacing the previous seven-region structure. Each region had its own International League, replacing Challengers as the domestic competitions to qualify for Masters and Champions. On September 21, 2022, Riot announced 30 teams selected for its new partnership format, which would run from 2023 to 2027.

In February 2023, Riot partnered with Grid Esports for performance analysis data. For China, Riot allowed Chinese teams to join global tournaments (Masters and Champions) through third-party competitions in the Hong Kong server, bypassing the Pacific league. In June 2023, Riot’s COO, Whalen Rozelle, confirmed that Valorant would launch in China in July under the name 无畏契约 (lit. "Fearless Contract") and aimed to start a VCT league there in 2024. In August 2023, Riot announced a separate regional league for China and increased the number of partnered teams to 40.

The new era was planned to end in 2026, one year earlier than originally scheduled.

Soon after its first year, the franchising system for VCT faced criticism. Non-partner teams struggled because the path to professional play and qualification for Masters/Champions was no longer open, requiring more time and money. These teams also lacked the same support as partner teams unless they won the Ascension tournament, risking talent loss and financial instability. Many non-partner teams disbanded after failing to qualify. Criticisms were directed at Riot, including from the 2021 Champions winner Acend and two-time Masters winner TenZ, who felt the focus was on top-tier teams while neglecting lower tiers.

To address these issues, Riot announced a format change on April 8, 2026, for the 2027 VCT. The new format keeps the three-split system but uses the regional open qualifier system from before 2023. All teams, including partners, must compete in qualifiers, eliminating the tier 2 system. In Stage 1 and Stage 2, top teams from qualifiers will compete in new international events called Cups, qualifying for Masters and Champions. The Kickoff stage will use a separate format for its tournament. Leagues will be removed, but the four major regions will remain, with each hosting its own Cups. The partnership system will shift to a two-year cycle in 2027, adding new incentives and open qualifier placements. Non-partner teams will also receive extra financial support to help them stay sustainable.

Leagues and format

In 2023, 30 teams were chosen as partner teams for International Leagues for five years, ending in 2027, with 10 teams in each region. Non-partner teams compete in sub-regions of Challengers events to qualify for Ascension events. In 2023 and 2024, each region had one winner from Ascension events, which earned them a temporary (two-year) promotion to their region’s International League. Promoted teams can qualify for global tournaments (Masters and Champions) and receive benefits given to other partnered teams. Through the Challengers promotion system, International Leagues added one team each year until reaching a cap of 12 teams per region in 2025 (originally planned to be 14 teams by 2027).

For 2025, two temporary teams in each International League can stay in the league by qualifying for Champions, competing in Ascension if they finished 5th to 8th, or being sent back to their Challengers region if they finished 9th to 12th. Only one of the guest teams per region can stay in the league through Champions, with the best-performing guest team taking the spot if both qualify.

Riot Games decided to end the first franchising era in 2026, one year earlier than planned (2027), to reassess existing partners and prepare for the next franchising era.

Teams in each International League play on LAN (local area network) at centralized locations: the Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles for VCT Americas, the Riot Games Arena in Berlin for VCT EMEA, and the Sangam SOOP Colosseum in Seoul for VCT Pacific.

From the global launch of Valorant, even though it was not licensed for release in China, Riot Games allowed Chinese teams to compete in global tournaments (Masters and Champions) by achieving success in domestic tournaments organized by third parties on the Hong Kong server.

Since 2024, with Valorant licensed for release in mainland China, Riot Games launched VCT CN specifically for China, which they consider a pro region equal to the three International Leagues. VCT CN includes competition slots only for Chinese teams at Masters and Champions. Riot Games also announced a second Masters event in Shanghai and introduced a new Chinese agent, Iso, alongside previous agent Sage.

Similar to the three International Leagues, ten Chinese teams were selected as partner teams for the first franchising era of the China League (originally planned to end in 2027, but later changed to end in 2026). Two additional non-partner teams qualified through China Ascension. The China League is based at the VCT CN Arena in Shanghai.

The Valorant Masters is a biannual (twice a year) international tournament organized by Riot Games in the middle of the year since 2021. Like the Mid-Season Invitational for League of Legends, it is the second most important international Valorant tournament after Champions. There are usually two Masters tournaments each year. Teams must place near the top of their regional league to qualify for Masters.

The Valorant Champions is the annual world championship for professional Valorant esports, hosted by Riot Games. It is the final event of each VCT season and includes spots earned through points accumulated throughout the year. Teams compete for the world champion title of Valorant esports.

Non-partner teams compete in Challengers events of sub-regions in Americas, EMEA, and Pacific to qualify for Ascension, the yearly promotion event to the respective International Leagues. Originally, teams would stay in their International League for two years after winning Ascension, with one team promoted each year until 2026, when two teams would be promoted each year until 2028. The leagues would have 14 teams each, totaling 42 teams across the three leagues.

On June 21, 2024, Riot Games announced changes to the Ascension format for 2025. Teams promoted to International Leagues would stay for one year. If they did not finish in the top 8 of their region’s league, they would be sent back to Challengers. However, if they qualified for Champions, they could stay for another year. If they finished in the playoffs of the International League, they could qualify for that year’s Ascension to keep their place in the league.

In 2023–24, there were 23 minor regional leagues across the three international territories. From 2025, this number was reduced to 15.

In 2026, because the first franchising era ended one year earlier, Ascension events would not be held. Instead, Challengers teams would have the chance to join their respective VCT league’s Stage 2 playoffs, giving them a pathway to qualify for Champions directly.

Valorant Game Changers is a series of domestic competitions for women and other marginalized genders in Valorant esports. Teams that finish in top places qualify for the Valorant Game Changers Championship, the world championship for Game Changers, and also earn the chance to be promoted to their region’s Challengers league.

Results

• Teams that are not part of the franchise system (a group of teams working together under one organization) are called non-partner teams.

• A team or organization that has stopped taking part in Valorant esports.

Awards

The original Masters trophy was shown for the first time by Riot during a media event in May 2021, which was held before the Masters Reykjavik tournament. It has a metal base and a glass top. In 2023, the trophy was redesigned by Volpin Props to be used again for Masters tournaments in different regions. It is 18 inches (46 cm) tall and includes a replaceable "Radianite" core. The trophy's body is covered in a layer of palladium and includes plastic parts.

Each trophy was created with designs that reflect characters or maps from the game. For Masters Tokyo, the design included the Oni mask from Yoru's ultimate ability. For Masters Madrid, the design featured butterflies, which are linked to the newest controller, Clove. For Masters Shanghai, the design showed a shield inspired by Iso's lilac-themed ability. For Masters Bangkok, the design included a diamond, which is the icon for Waylay's ability. For Masters Toronto, the core was redesigned to look like a pink-colored iceberg, which matches the theme of the new map, Corrode. For Masters Santiago, the design included a soundbox, which is connected to the newest controller, Miks.

The Valorant Champions trophy was first shown before the Valorant Champions 2021 event. It was also designed and built by Volpin Props in Atlanta, Georgia. The trophy is 2 feet (61 cm) tall and is partially made using 3D printing. It is decorated with 24 karat gold.