Riot Games has announced the Valorant Champions  Tour, a season-long competition tour set to take place throughout 2021.

The global tour will feature competitions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, and will crown a single global Champion at the end of the year.

Riot Games Esports Director Whalen Rozelle said:

“The Champions Tour is our next step to grow VALORANT into a global esport worthy of the passion of our fans.

We’ve spent a couple of years now talking to players, teams, fans, prospective partners, and other stakeholders, and we’re extremely excited to launch our first official season.

Our focus will be on elevating and showcasing the creative and talented players who are shaping this game across the globe.

Fans and players both wanted high stakes competition, and that’s what the VALORANT Champions Tour is designed to do.” 

The Valorant Champions Tour will feature three levels of competition: Challengers, Masters,  and Champions. Teams begin their journey by first playing in regional Challenger events, before advancing to international Masters events.

At the three Masters events set to take place in 2021, top-performing teams will accumulate points which will count towards qualification for the  Champions event. This final stage will feature the top sixteen teams in the world and will crown a single global champion. 

Throughout the course of 2021, three stages consisting of Challengers and Masters events will provide teams with multiple chances to earn points and qualify into Champions. After each Masters event, there will be an event break, allowing our pros and teams the opportunity to recharge and prevent burnout.

The season will kick off in late January with regional Challenger events across the globe. Each Challenger stage will consist of three tournaments and a final taking place over six weeks. Each tournament will feature eight teams who will earn their spots through open qualifiers. Teams that do well in Challenger tournaments will then qualify into Challenger Finals.

The Challenger Final tournament will feature the best eight teams and will award prizing and qualification slots into the next Masters event. While COVID-19 continues to impact international travel, Masters will be limited to regional events, similar to First Strike. During the stages where Masters tournaments remain regional, they will use the eight-team format of Challenger Finals.

International Masters events will feature global competition, and will include teams from all over the world. A total of 16 teams will battle for prizes and points that will count towards qualification into Champions, our end of year world championship.

Additionally, the team who wins the last Masters event of the year will automatically earn qualification into Champions and an additional team slot at the event for their region. Specific details regarding the point distribution and prizing for Masters events will be shared at a later date.

After the third Masters event, a series of Last Chance Qualifiers will provide teams with one final chance to qualify into Champions. Four LCQ tournaments will take place, creating a gauntlet from which one team per continent will qualify into Champions.

The season will conclude with Champions, Valorant’s version of Worlds. A massive two-week-long event which will feature the best 16 teams from around the globe.

The initial founding partners committing to the Valorant Champions Tour and the First Strike tournament will be Red Bull and Secretlab. More partners for the Valorant Champions Tour will be announced throughout 2021.