Riot Games has locked in the 32 organizations that will anchor the VALORANT Champions Tour for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, splitting eight partner slots across each of four regions: the Americas, EMEA, Pacific, and China. The October 22 reveal is the centerpiece of a rework Riot first sketched in April, replacing a structure built around exclusivity with one that ties a team’s continued path to how it performs on the server.
The Americas field brings back 100 Thieves, G2 Esports, KRÜ Visa, Leviatán Esports, LOUD, MIBR, NRG, and Sentinels. EMEA runs through BBL Esports, FNATIC, FUT Esports, Gentle Mates, Karmine Corp, Team Heretics, Team Liquid, and Team Vitality. Pacific pairs established names such as Paper Rex, T1, Gen.G, and ZETA DIVISION with Crazy Raccoon, FULL SENSE, GAM Esports, and Rex Regum Qeon. China is represented by ALL GAMERS, Bilibili Gaming, EDWARD Gaming, JD Gaming, Trace Esports, TYLOO Gaming, Weibo Gaming, and Xi Lai Gaming.
Selection was not purely results-driven. More than 100 teams submitted interest earlier this year, and a smaller group of finalists were interviewed by global and regional esports leads before the final cut. Riot scored candidates against five criteria: commitment to grow the VALORANT community, community resonance, business sustainability and responsible operations, operational excellence, and competitive success. Competitive results were listed last.
The partnership itself moves to two-year renewable cycles. Partner teams receive annual financial support and can earn more through in-game digital goods, including Team and Season Capsules and the Championship bundle, with incentives tied to how much they help grow VALORANT Esports.
The competitive path also opens up. Partners get direct qualification to VCT Kickoff, but after that they compete alongside teams coming out of open qualifiers, with performance the only route to Cups, Masters, and Champions. A squad that wins open qualifiers can reach those stages without holding a partner slot, and Riot says its partners will face an onslaught of new challengers for the first time, a balance it argues will create a healthier ecosystem.
LOUD, which beat Team Vitality 3-1 to win VALORANT Champions 2026, returns as an Americas partner. Global Esports, which recently said it was leaving VALORANT, is not among the eight Pacific partners.
