When Riot launched the partnership system in 2023, the top of competitive Valorant became a closed club. Thirty teams were guaranteed a place across three international leagues. With China joining as a fourth league and teams promoted through the Challengers tier, the leagues had grown to 12 teams each by 2026. Everyone else played in Challengers, hoping to win promotion.
On April 8, 2026, Riot announced that this is changing. From the 2027 season, the Valorant Champions Tour moves back to open qualification. Champions 2026 in Shanghai is the last world championship of the closed-league era.
Here's what we know.
The headline: anyone can qualify
From 2027, every team, partner or not, has to earn its place at Masters and Champions through qualifiers in its region. It's a return to the open model Valorant used before 2023, when any team could enter a qualifier and, if it won enough, end up on the world stage.
There's no separate second tier anymore. Instead of a Challengers league feeding promotion events, the qualifiers themselves are the ladder.
VCT Cups replace league play
The regular-season league matches that make up most of the current VCT calendar are going away. In their place come VCT Cups: LAN tournaments held in each of the four territories (Americas, EMEA, Pacific and China), two per territory each year, so eight in total.
Teams qualify for VCT Cups through open qualifiers, and the Cups qualify teams directly for the international Masters events and for Champions. The season keeps its three-part structure, building up to the two Masters events and the world championship.
Partnerships still exist, but they're different
This isn't the end of partner teams. Riot is moving to a two-year partnership model with new selection criteria. Partners still get benefits, including a place in later rounds of qualifiers instead of the first open round.
What they lose is the guarantee. A partner team that plays badly won't automatically be part of the top competition anymore, and it can miss international events entirely. Several outlets have also reported that the number of partner teams per region will drop, though how many teams each region ends up with will be clearer once the new partners are announced.
Why Riot is doing it
Riot hasn't framed this as the partnership system failing, but the reasons are easy to see:
- Stagnation at the top. With guaranteed slots, some partner teams stayed in the league for years without results, while strong Challengers teams struggled to break in.
- A weak second tier. Teams outside the partnership found it hard to attract sponsors and keep players, because there was so little chance of reaching the big stage.
- More meaningful matches. League play produced a lot of matches with little at stake. LAN Cups with direct qualification on the line should raise the stakes of each event.
What it means for fans
- More stories. Open qualifiers bring the chance of unknown teams beating famous ones. That was one of the best things about Valorant's first years.
- More LAN events. Eight Cups across four territories means more in-person events, closer to home for many fans.
- Less predictability. You'll no longer be able to tell months in advance which teams will be at Masters. Big names can fall early.
- A busy off-season. Expect a lot of roster changes heading into 2027, as teams build for a system where results matter more than contracts.
What we don't know yet
Many details will only become clear as 2027 approaches: the exact qualifier formats in each territory, how many teams from each Cup qualify for Masters, and how Champions qualification will be calculated. We'll cover them as they're announced.
For now, enjoy the last Champions of the partnership era. Follow the latest Valorant news on the Valorant hub, and live matches on the Esports page.