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VCT 2027 Introduces Fresh New Format: More Tournaments, Open Qualification, New Path
Introduced in 2023, the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) as we know it is now in the final year. As fans await the remainder of this season, Riot are already looking ahead to 2027 and the anticipated changes to come with the second iteration of the partnership program.
From a new partnership cycle to a revamped tournament model and open qualifications, there's a lot to look forward to come next year.
- New Partnership Cycle
- New Tournament Model
- Open Qualification
- Improved Funds Distribution
Let’s take a look.
New Partnership Cycle Opens
With the conclusion of the 2026 season comes the end of the first partnership cycle for the VCT. Riot Games has already confirmed that a new cycle will begin with the 2027 season, for a 2-year partnership (2027-2028).
The announcement confirms that any established organizations that are not already part of the partnership program are welcome to apply. Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Commitment to growing the VALORANT community
- Community resonance across fandom and content
- Business sustainability and responsible operations
- Operational excellence and established infrastructure
- Competitive success and performance development
Those who succeed in their application and become partners in the VCT system will be rewarded with the following:
- Partner base payment: Partner teams receive a guaranteed base payment each year
- Performance bonus: Partner teams that excel at partnership goals are eligible for additional rewards
- Team capsule: In-game skins that let fans support their favorite teams
- Direct Seeding: Additional stability and increased exposure through direct placement into later rounds in qualifiers
New Tournament Model
A series of changes are coming to the way tournaments are structured, handled, and fed into starting from 2027. The focus has been stated to focus on the following principles:
- Every match should carry weight
- The path to global events should be open
- Live events should visit more locations
“Our goal is for every team, in every territory, to have a path to every global event.”
Open Qualification to Global Events
Beginning with the 2027 season, the path to all Masters and Champions will begin with Open Qualifiers available to any team across the world.
“Starting next year, teams will have multiple opportunities, multiple times a year, to make it all the way to the biggest stages in the VCT.”
It is further confirmed that qualification paths will vary between regions and could include a variety of options including community tournaments, partner events, collegiate events, Premier, and more. However, regardless of the path, this means that teams successful in their quest will be able to stack Championship points, even if they aren’t partner teams, and subsequently earn competitive payouts throughout the season.
“This approach unlocks the distribution of funds deeper into the ecosystem, in shorter cycles, enabling both partner and non-partner teams to support players and invest in the sport. Teams will have the flexibility to make multiple runs at global events each season, and make adjustments as necessary in between.”
New Paths to Global Events
Starting from 2027, regions will be grouped together under a new classification: territories. There will be a total of 4 territories, and each will feed, through Open Qualifiers, into reformatted LAN-based events, of which there will be three a year.
The territories have been grouped as followed:
| Territory | Consists of | Feed into |
| Americas | North America, LATAM, Brazil | Americas Kickoff, Cups |
| EMEA | EU, MENA, Türkiye | EMEA Kickoff, Cups |
| Pacific | SEA, Japan, Korea, South Asia | Pacific Kickoff, Cups |
| China | CN Open Qualifiers | CN Kickoff, Cups |
Key points:
- Kickoff will remain as the unique opener to the season but starting 2027 will be open for any team to participate. Qualifiers will take place in Q4 of the previous year (after Champions)
- Instead of regular VCT season play, new tournaments called ‘Cups’ will replace them
- Each Cup will conclude with a finals weekend event
- Each Cup directly qualifies teams to Masters and Champions
VCT Cups: VALORANT’s Newest Tournaments
As mentioned above, Cups will replace regular VCT season play starting from 2027. All Cups will be held on LAN, in a combination of Riot studios and bespoke venues – so travelling. Each Cup will culminate in a weekend event for the finals and Riot has announced their intentions for VCT to host over 20 tournaments every year and visit more than 16 different cities all around the world.
More Money to Go Around
In 2026, Riot reported over $86M was shared with the VCT teams in a continued effort to create a healthy and sustainable environment for teams to operate. This amount was generated from the sale of digital goods, notably the Champions bundle and team capsules.
For 2027, Riot will be attaching cash amounts to every competition, earned by qualifying. The amount will scale with the tournament prestige, doubling from Cups to Masters, and then again from Masters to Champions.
Other key funding mentioned in the plans for 2027 include:
- More robust tournament prize pools, totaling over $6M USD/year
- Fully funded travel for global events
- Made available timely funds for teams (for Cups in particular) to cover logistics such as visa/travel costs
- A portion to be dedicated to Game Changers each year (to be expanded on later this year)
A New Era of VCT Dawns
That wraps up the announcement portion for now. There’s a lot to wrap one’s head around, and undoubtedly, VCT in 2027 and onwards will look drastically different to how they did in the years past.
While we await further details on all the changes, new tournaments, slot allocations, event locations, etc, it’s important we take a moment to appreciate the final year of competition for VCT as we know it. Because next year, it’s a very different circuit.
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Featured Image Credit: Riot Games