VALORANT Champions 2025 schedule, teams, prize pool, format, and more
Summary
VCT Champions 2025 is Riot Games’ end-of-year VALORANT showpiece, running in Paris from 12 September to 5 October 2025. Sixteen teams qualified via regional results and Championship points to contest a $2,250,000 prize pool. The event begins with four GSL-style double-elimination groups (best-of-three matches), then moves to a double-elimination playoff bracket — all Bo3s except the Lower Bracket Final and Grand Final, which are Bo5. The article also lists confirmed teams and gives the full day-by-day schedule for group stage and playoffs.
Key Points
- Event dates: 12 September – 5 October 2025 in Paris.
- Field: 16 teams qualified through regional Stage 2 results and Championship points.
- Prize pool: $2,250,000 with $1,000,000 to the winners and tiered payouts down to 13th–16th.
- Group Stage: four GSL-format, double-elimination groups of four; all group matches are best-of-three.
- Playoffs: double-elimination bracket; matches are Bo3 except the Lower Bracket Final and Grand Final (Bo5).
- Notable teams confirmed include: G2 Esports, Sentinels, Fnatic, Paper Rex, T1, RRQ, Bilibili Gaming, EDward Gaming, Team Heretics, MIBR, DRX, NRG, DRG, GIANTX, XLG Esports and Team Liquid.
- Full day-by-day schedule provided in the article — group matches, elimination rounds, and exact playoff dates through to the Grand Final on 5 October.
Content summary
The piece is a practical guide to VALORANT Champions 2025: it lays out the full schedule (group and playoff days/times), the tournament format, the complete list of participating teams and the prize-money breakdown. The group stage uses a GSL double-elimination format with Bo3s; the top two from each group progress to a Bo3 double-elimination playoff bracket, with only the LB Final and Grand Final being best-of-five. The prize distribution is specified from the $1,000,000 winners’ share down to $20,000 for the teams finishing 13th–16th.
The article also records early group-stage results (for example Paper Rex, GIANTX, NRG, DRX and T1 wins) and notes scheduled match times in CEST and PDT for viewers.
Context and relevance
VALORANT Champions is the biggest event on the VCT calendar and effectively decides the year’s competitive pecking order. The Paris location and the $2.25M purse underline Riot’s continued investment in global VALORANT esports. For fans, players, broadcasters and bettors, the schedule and format details are essential for planning viewing, coverage and analysis.
Why should I read this?
If you care about VALORANT — and honestly, if you watch pro esports even a little — this is the one-stop cheat-sheet. Dates, teams, format and money: all the stuff you’d normally have to dig through multiple pages to find, condensed so you can get back to arguing with your mates about who lifts the trophy. Must-know for viewers, analysts and anyone booking time off for the Finals.
Author style
Punchy — this roundup gets straight to the facts you need: when it happens, who’s in it, how it’s organised and what’s at stake. Given Champions decides the year, the finer details here are worth a read if you follow the scene closely.
Source
Source: https://dotesports.com/valorant/news/valorant-champions-2025