Riot Games presented the updated calendar and format of the VCT 2026 competition year, at the same time clarifying how championship points will be awarded. The new season starts in January with Kickoff matches, and the final point is VALORANT Champions Shanghai in October. This time there are twice as many episodes as in 2025, so the year promises to be much more intense.
Separately, Riot confirmed that Game Changers will determine the world champion again — the final is scheduled for November 2026. Below is the entire roadmap of VCT 2026, so that you can immediately understand how the stages are distributed.:
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Kickoff: January 15th – February 15th
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VALORANT Masters Santiago: February 28 – March 15
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VCT Stage 1: March 31 – May 10
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Stage 1 Playoffs: May 6-24
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VALORANT Masters London: June 6-21
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VCT Stage 2: June 30 – August 16
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Season Finale: August 5 – September 6
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VALORANT Champions Shanghai: September 24 – October 18
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VALORANT Game Changers Championship: October/November
How are VCT 2026 Championship Points awarded?
The scheme is familiar from last year: teams accumulate points for winning matches and places at tournaments. The accumulated points determine who will be closest to a trip to Shanghai for the main tournament of the season.
The distribution of points for 2026 looks like this.
Kickoff
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1st place: 4
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2nd place: 3
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3rd place: 2
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4th place: 1
Masters Santiago
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Winner: 6
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2nd place: 4
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3rd place: 3
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4th place: 2
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5th place: 1
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6th place: 1
Stage 1
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1 point for winning the match
Stage 1 Playoffs
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1st place: 6
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2nd place: 4
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3rd place: 3
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4th place: 2
Masters London
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Winner: 8
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2nd place: 6th
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3rd place: 5th
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4th place: 4
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5th place: 3
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6th place: 3
Stage 2
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1 point for winning the match
The season finale
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Winner: 8
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2nd place: 6th
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3rd place: 5th
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4th place: 4
Table of Contents
How the VCT 2026 format works
Riot has fixed the format of Kickoff and the first stage in advance. The rest of the details will be announced later.
Kickoff
In 2026, the opening tournament will introduce a new group format with a triple elimination bracket. A total of 12 teams have been announced. The top four teams from the 2025 results automatically qualify for the second round. Next, the three strongest teams from each starting group will qualify for the Masters Santiago.
Kickoff dates by region:
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North and South America — from January 15th
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EMEA — from January 20th
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China — from January 22
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Pacific Region — from January 22
Stage 1
There are 12 teams divided into two groups of six. There is a round robin format inside, and then the four leaders of each group advance to the playoffs. The top three teams at the end of the playoffs receive coveted places at the Masters London. The format of the London tournament will be identical to the Masters Santiago.
Stage 2 and a new system for applicants
The second stage of the season will be held in places that have not hosted VCT before. The finals of each international league are organized as live destination events — separate offline events at unusual venues. Riot is trying to expand the audience in this way and bring the tournament series to new parts of the world.
For the first time, Challenger teams will have a direct path to the championship through Stage 2. Four teams of the “Contenders” level in each region will be able to go all the way – from Premier → Challengers → International Leagues → Champions. Riot promises to help the past teams with logistics and housing, plus they will add an updated points system so that constant progress really affects the final result.
In addition, the strongest Challengers under the Path to Champions program will receive a direct slot in the second stage playoffs – the chance to get to Champions Shanghai is now much closer.
The evolution of VCT: from 2025 to 2026 – what really change
If we compare the last season of the Valorant Champions Tour with the current one, it can be seen that Riot Games VCT has gradually moved from a “neat” calendar to a dense vct 2026 schedule. In 2025, the focus was on a stable league structure, but now seasonal shifts are immediately noticeable: more international tournaments, two Masters in a row — first the Santiago Masters, then the London Masters, an expanded path to the Valorant Champions Shanghai and a separate Game Changers Championship towards the end of the year.
Historically, the tour was built around a simple league and playoff scheme, but now the format has become more aggressive: triple elimination bracket at Kickoff, round robin format at Stage 1 playoffs, live destination events in the second stage, plus the Path to Champions program for challengers teams. The reasons for the updates are clear: The tour is growing, we need to give new teams and regions a chance, complicate the championship points system and make international leagues more spectacular without losing competitive logic.
