Riot Games has announced that the biggest Valorant event of the year, Valorant Champions, will take place in Shanghai, China.
The city is home to VCT China and has previously hosted an international event with Masters Shanghai 2024.
That tournament was held in the Mercedes-Benz Arena, but the venue and dates for 2026 have not yet been confirmed.
“After the incredible success of Masters Shanghai 2024 with a packed Mercedes-Benz Arena, record-breaking viewership, and a city bursting with energy, we knew we had to come back,” said Riot in an official statement.
Last year, Valorant China was launched, and a Chinese team, EDward Gaming, won Champions that same year.
Now, the prestigious Valorant Champions tournament will be held in China for the first time ever.
Though Riot has plenty of experience hosting events in Shanghai, this year’s LoL World Championships will partially be held there.
It’s also home to LoL’s LPL, which had a match postponed due to the typhoon in Shanghai earlier this week.
Previous host cities were Berlin (2021), Istanbul (2022), Los Angeles (2023), and Seoul (2024).
This year’s Valorant Champions will be held in Paris, with the final four competing in the 20,000+ seater Accor Arena.
According to Valorant betting sites, Esports World Cup champions Team Heretics and Masters Toronto champions Paper Rex are early favourites.
Though Fnatic will also be up there after finishing as runners-up in both events and winning the most recent VCT EMEA split.
Riot Games tease “next era” of Valorant esports
Riot also announced that the following Valorant Champions, in 2027, will be held somewhere in the Americas.
And in addition to that, Riot teased that big changes are coming to the Valorant esports ecosystem.
When describing the Americas 2027 final, Riot said:
“This final stop will not only celebrate the region’s unforgettable rivalries and rising stars, but also showcase the first Champions of the next era of our sport.”
Riot’s celebration of Valorant’s fifth anniversary earlier this year, it was revealed that big changes would come in 2027.
Riot claims to be making these changes with three goals in mind.
Riot wants to keep partnerships but bridge the gap between Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams with more opportunities for lower teams.
The publishers also want a more flexible esports ecosystem with a wider variety of tournaments, formats, and more event locations globally.
And Riot wants “more moments” with additional regional events, but is happy with the current number of international tournaments.
In my seven years of esports writing, I’ve introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I’m most proud of the latter.