VALORANT Champions Tour revealed for 2021

Riot has announced their plans for VALORANT’s esport scene in 2021. After the Ignition Series and the First Strike tournaments 2021 will introduce the Champions Tour.

As the first year with VALORANT slowly draws to a close Riot has announced their ambitious plans for the esports scene in 2021. The new Champions Tour will span the entire year to crown a world champion at the end. In order to do so the Champions Tour will feature several regional tournaments spread around the globe.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2021 Structure

Tournaments will follow a three level structure, which slowly weeds out the teams until only the strongest remain. Starting point will be the regional VALORANT Challengers that build the first stories and rivalries.

The strongest Challengers will qualify for the international VALORANT Masters. These tournaments will feature each region’s best facing off to earn their place at the finals: The VALORANT Champions.

The Champions stage will feature the world’s 16 best teams to determine who can crown themselves world champions for 2021.

Regions competing in the very first VALORANT Champions tour will be: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Founding Partners for the 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour will be Red Bull and Secretlab.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2021 Schedule & Format

On their official website, VALORANT also published the first preliminary structure and format of the Champions Tour.

The three stages of the Champions Tour will be spread out over the entire year with breaks between each cycle of Challengers and Masters tournaments.

Each of the Challenger tournaments will be split once again into three different weekend tournaments to which open qualifiers will be hosted. The eight best teams will then duke it out in the Challengers finals for prizing and the spots to the Masters tournaments. Once the current situation with the ongoing pandemic has been resolved the format might change once again to accommodate international competition.

While the Masters events themselves will be prestigious their main draw will be qualification points for the year-end Champions event that determines the best VALORANT team in the world. Riot has already announced how the slots will be distributed with 12 teams earning their place through Masters events and 4 teams determined by Last Chance qualifiers in the lead up to the Champions event.

“The next step to grow VALORANT into a global esport”

The detailled tournament structure follows up on VALORANT’s early success in attracting teams, players and fans to the esport scene. While Riot already dominates the scene with their MOBA League of Legends, the VALORANT Champions Tour aims to become the breakthrough for the company in the FPS genre. Whalen Rozelle, Senior Director of Esports said the following:

“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.”

While Riot’s ambitious plans are promising, they have not yet announced the full details of the Champions Tour. As soon as we know more we will keep you informed. You can read the official announcement on their website here:

VALORANT official website

More VALORANT:

• First Strike – North America’s Top 8 have emerged
• Deathmatch while queueing planned
• VALORANT – Total Destruction #16 feat. TenZ

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Image Credit: Riot Games