VCT Masters and Valorant Champions 2025 locations & format change leaked

Declan Mclaughlin
Valorant Champions 2023 stage

Riot Games’ Indonesian Instagram account posted a video announcing the locations of the international VCT tournament early.

The video revealed the two VCT Masters tournaments in 2025 will be played in Bangkok, Thailand, and Toronto, Canada. Valorant Champions will end the competitive season in Paris France.

Bangkok will host the first Masters event of the year, while Toronto will host the second. The format of the Valorant esports competitive calendar for 2025 was also revealed in the video, showcasing the changes Riot is making for the next year of VCT.

The 2025 season will start with a Kickoff tournament, just like 2024, with all teams in each VCT International league squaring off for a spot at Masters Bangkok. The tournament will be a double elimination bracket format, with the top two teams making the major tournament.

Stage 1 of the VCT league season will qualify teams for Masters Toronto. Stage 2 of the VCT leagues will follow after the international tournament.

However, each team’s records from Stage 1 will not carry over into Stage 2. This is a major change from the 2024 format, and it’ll require teams to stay consistent for the entire year if they want that shot at Champions.

Teams will play through Stage 2 playoffs for spots in the world championships in France.

This is the second time Valorant Champions will be hosted in Europe after the region hosted the first world championship in 2021.

Riot Games has yet to officially release its 2025 Valorant esports season announcement across all of its social media channels at the time of writing. The developer is expected to reveal this announcement, and much more, ahead of the final match of Valorant Champions 2024.