Riot Games Reveals 2027 VALORANT Champions Tour Schedule with 50+ Tournaments
The season will feature events in 15 cities and conclude with the world championship in Austin, Texas.
Riot Games has announced the full schedule for the 2027 VALORANT Champions Tour, featuring more than 50 tournaments across 15 cities.
The season will run from January to October, culminating with the VALORANT Champions world championship in Austin, Texas, for the first time.
The new tournament-first structure includes regional Opens, Kickoff events, Cups, two Masters events and Champions.
Anna Donlon, Head of VALORANT Studios, and Leo Faria, Global Head of VALORANT Esports, said the Opens would be a place "where local heroes are crowned", with the best teams moving on to Cups, Masters and Champions.
Manila will host the inaugural VCT Pacific Cup between April 29 and May 23, 2027.
Other host cities for the first round of Cups include Mexico City, Warsaw and Wuhan.
The Masters events will be held in Seoul and Valencia.
Open Qualifiers for the 2027 Kickoff tournaments will begin in November 2026, providing the first route into the circuit.
Teams advancing from Open Qualifiers to a Kickoff or Cup event will receive a $100,000 support payment for each event.
Teams that reach a Masters event will receive $200,000, and an open team that qualifies for Champions will receive $400,000.
Riot said an open team that puts together a strong season could earn more than $1 million through these payments and prize money.
The total prize pool across the season will exceed $7 million.
The six partner teams across the EMEA, Americas and Pacific regions will receive direct entry only to their respective regional Kickoff tournaments.
After Kickoff, advancement to Cups, Masters and Champions will be based on performance, with open qualifier teams competing alongside partner teams.
Chinese partner and visitor organisations will receive invitations to Kickoff and Cups under the VCT China partnership arrangements.
Every regional event will move to a new city during the year, meaning no region stays in one studio location.
The Game Changers Championship, the top event for women and marginalised genders, will be played alongside Champions in Austin.
Every team that qualifies for the Game Changers Championship will receive $100,000.
In comments reported by Sheep Esports, Donlon and Faria described the Opens as a stage for emerging competitors to face established players and for local champions to advance.
They said the Opens would put established players against lesser-known competitors and allow the best teams to progress to Cups, Masters and Champions.
Riot stated that "the new tournament-first structure will be built around Opens, Kickoff, Cups, Masters, and Champions."
The company added that across the year, it will run more than 50 tournaments, "creating more entry points and more meaningful matches for teams around the world."
Seoul returns as a VCT host after previously holding Champions 2024.
In the Philippines, teams will compete through the Pacific Wild Card group alongside Malaysia, Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asia, rather than having a standalone regional pathway.
The announcement came on the eve of the final weekend of VALORANT Champions 2026 in Shanghai.
The shift to a more open, tournament-based structure follows years of a franchise league system and comes after debate over the previous qualification format.
