Riot Games has unveiled fresh details on how teams will qualify for the Valorant Champions Tour in 2027, and this is perhaps the most significant overhaul to competitive Valorant since partnership leagues first launched back in 2023.
Rather than locking partner organizations into a season-long schedule, the new VCT circuit will see a chain of tournaments where results will determine who keeps playing rather than contracts.
“VCT 2027 is built around a simple belief: the best teams should earn their place every step of the way and every match matters,” Leo Faria, Global Head of Valorant Esports, said in a statement. “We wanted to create a system that rewards performance, opens more opportunities for teams around the world, and makes every match feel meaningful.”
Riot Games Revamps VCT Structure
As usual, VCT 2027 kicks off with three regional Kickoff events in the Americas, EMEA, and Pacific, each running a 12-team, triple-elimination bracket made up of eight partner organizations and four teams decided via the Open Qualifiers.
Finishing in the top three at Kickoff will send a team straight to the first Masters event. Partner teams will get a direct entry into Kickoff and nothing more, while any team that fails to rank highly at a Cup or Masters will get bumped down into Open Playoffs.
Partner teams with no prior track record, alongside teams that are knocked out early, will have to climb back up through the qualifiers like everybody else.
China runs a slightly different version. Eight partner teams and two visitor teams share Kickoff slots with two Open Qualifier entrants, and both partner and visitor teams get invites to the first two Cups of the year.
Feeding into all of this are 14 regional competitions, which will serve as the foundation for qualification into Cups.
| VCT Americas | VCT EMEA | VCT Pacific | VCT China |
| North America | Europe | South Korea | China |
| LATAM North | Türkiye | Japan | |
| LATAM South | MENA | Thailand | |
| Brazil | Indonesia | ||
| Vietnam | |||
| Wild Card |
VCT Pacific sees the most changes, with Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam now standing as their own regions alongside South Korea and Japan, plus a Wild Card bracket bringing together Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and the rest of Southeast Asia. This Wild Card bracket is also how South Asian and Oceanic squads get a shot at the global stage.
To help emerging organizations build momentum and establish sustainable competitive identities, Riot has announced that open and creator-backed teams will be able to retain their competitive progress if they maintain at least three of five starting players.
On the money side, Riot is guaranteeing payouts to non-partner teams for the first time. Teams will get fixed qualification payouts tied directly to competitive achievement:
- Qualify for Kickoff or a Cup: $100,000 USD
- Qualify for Masters: $200,000 USD
- Qualify for Champions: $400,000 USD
Note that these payouts are in addition to the tournament prize pools, travel support during major events, and other ecosystem incentives.
Teams that score a ticket to the Game Changers Championship can pick up another $100,000 USD.
Riot Games has stated that further details regarding slot allocation, regional qualification formats, and partner team selection will be disclosed ahead of Valorant Champions 2026.
