The Valorant Champions Tour is an internationally-renowned esports competition dedicated to the popular first-person shooter game, Valorant. Founded in 2020, the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) debuted in 2021, with the Acend esports team triumphing in the grand final of the inaugural Valorant Champions finals event.
The VCT is organised by Valorant’s creators, Riot Games, and is not only the video game’s official esports tournament, but also its biggest in terms of global reach: the VCT includes teams based in North, Central, and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australasia, all competing in regional and international events.
Whilst the first edition of the VCT largely took place without live audiences, in-person crowds have been increasingly present at the tournament’s biggest events since the 2022 Champions Tour season; regional qualifiers usually take place online-only, but the Masters and Champions events welcome in-person audiences, with fans able to cheer-on their favourite teams as the LAN action takes place in front of them!
💯 Valorant Champions Tour Format & Scoring
The Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) season lasts approximately 6 months; it starts around February, and ends in August or September. Whilst regional competitions and qualifiers take place throughout the season, the VCT’s biggest draws are the Masters and Champions, 3 international events which award the most prize money and VCT points, and provide the greatest global acclaim.
Masters events are LAN competitions, with teams gaining entry via online regional qualifiers in the weeks before each Masters. The most common qualification route to the Masters is the regional Challengers events. There are typically 2 Masters events each season.
The Champions events, which take place at the end of each VCT season, are the most esteemed VCT competitions on the circuit, with the eventual winners crowned that year’s Valorant Champions Tour world champions. To qualify for that year’s VCT Champions event, a team can either qualify via its cumulative VCT points total that season, or enter via the Last Chance Qualifiers, a play-off event which takes place in August.
Most VCT matches – or ties – take place on a head-to-head basis, with teams drawn against each other in small groups, larger elimination brackets, or a combination of the 2. Major events, including the Masters and Champions, generally use 6 or 7 different maps throughout their multiple days of competition.
