Valorant's most prestigious tournament of the year begins Wednesday, August 31. Sixteen teams from around the world have battled through their respective regional VCT circuits to earn their spot on the international stage in the culmination of the 2022 VCT tournament circuit.
Competition is as fierce as ever, but only one team can win it all to be crowned Valorant 2022 Champions. VLR.gg has compiled everything that you need to know about what's to come in the 19-day competition, starting with the Group Stage of the event.
Format
The 16 teams competing will participate in a GSL group stage format, where the teams will be divided into four groups—A, B, C, and D respectively—of four teams. The groups are as follows:
Group A
- Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov (APAC)
- EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 S1Mon Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋) ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) (East Asia)
- LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee (LATAM)
- Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #23 nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak (EMEA)
Group B
- OpTic Gaming OpTic Gaming Inactive (NA)
- BOOM Esports BOOM Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #2 dos9 Zhumagali Dastan Famouz Fikri Zaki Hamdani Shiro Hildegard Arnaldo NcSlasher Sheldon Andersen Chandra BerserX Rizkie Adla Kusuma (APAC)
- ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #2 Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe CLZ Hikaru Mizutani SyouTa Shota Aoki Xdll Yuto Mizomori (Japan)
- LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #2 dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira (Brazil)
Group C
- FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks (EMEA)
- KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Mazino Roberto Rivas adverso Benjamín Poblete mta Nicolás González Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro (LATAM)
- XSET XSET Inactive (NA)
- XERXIA Esports XERXIA Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #30 b3ta Puwadon Jaisuekul Siraww Siraphop Honghirun bnwgiggs (APAC)
Group D
- DRX DRX Korea Rank #7 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) (Korea)
- FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #5 mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt nzr Agustin Ibarra (Brazil)
- FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder (EMEA)
- 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #4 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk (NA)
The top two teams from each group will advance to the eight-team playoff stage, where they'll play in a double elimination bracket to determine who will hoist the Valorant Champions trophy. Each match in the group stage will be Bo3.
Prize Pool
While Riot has not yet announced the prize pool for the event, 50% of net proceeds from the Champions 2022 Skin Collection will be distributed to participating teams.
Schedule (Group Stage)
Wednesday, August 31
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Group A: Paper Rex vs. EDward Gaming
- 10:00 AM PST | 19:00 PM CEST | 2:00 AM JST - Group A: Leviatán vs Team Liquid
Thursday, September 1
- 5:00 AM PST | 14:00 PM CEST | 21:00 PM JST - Group B: ZETA Division vs LOUD
- 8:00 AM PST | 17:00 PM CEST | 00:00 AM JST - Group B: OpTic Gaming vs BOOM Esports
- 11:00 AM PST | 20:00 PM CEST | 3:00 AM JST - Winner's (Group A)
Friday, September 2
- 5:00 AM PST | 14:00 PM CEST | 21:00 PM JST - Group D: DRX vs FURIA
- 8:00 AM PST | 17:00 PM CEST | 00:00 AM JST - Group D: FNATIC vs 100 Thieves
- 11:00 AM PST | 20:00 PM CEST | 3:00 AM JST - Winner's (Group B)
Saturday, September 3
- 5:00 AM PST | 14:00 PM CEST | 21:00 PM JST - Group C: XSET vs XERXIA Esports
- 8:00 AM PST | 17:00 PM CEST | 00:00 AM JST - Group C: FPX vs KRÜ Esports
- 11:00 AM PST | 20:00 PM CEST | 3:00 AM JST - Winner's (Group D)
Sunday, September 4
- 5:00 AM PST | 14:00 PM CEST | 21:00 PM JST - Winner's (Group C)
- 8:00 AM PST | 17:00 PM CEST | 00:00 AM JST - Elimination (Group A)
- 11:00 AM PST | 20:00 PM CEST | 3:00 AM JST - Elimination (Group B)
Monday, September 5
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Elimination (Group D)
- 10:00 AM PST | 19:00 PM CEST | 2:00 AM JST - Elimination (Group C)
Tuesday, September 6
- Dark Day (no matches scheduled)
Wednesday, September 7
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Decider (Group A)
- 10:00 PM PST | 19:00 PM CEST | 2:00 AM JST - Decider (Group B)
Thursday, September 8
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Decider (Group D)
- 10:00 PM PST | 19:00 PM CEST | 2:00 AM JST - Decider (Group C)
JST times past midnight refer to the following day.
Broadcast
Champions Broadcast Drops are back this year, which means that you can earn in-game rewards from watching official streams. If you connect your Valorant account with your Twitch or YouTube account, you may be rewarded in-game with a Champions-exclusive title, spray and player card.
The player title can be earned by watching a live game from August 31 to September 13, and the VCT spray by catching the streams on September 16-17. As for the VCT player card, this can be earned during the finals on September 18.
English Broadcast Talent
- Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez (Host)
- Yinsu Collins (Host)
- Chrissy Costanza (Host)
- Seth "Achilios" King (Commentator)
- Arten "Ballatw" Esa (Commentator)
- Brennon "Bren" Hook (Commentator)
- Doug "EsportsDoug" Cortez (Commentator)
- Michael "hypoc" Robins (Commentator)
- Jessica "Jess" Bolden (Commentator)
- Mimi "aEvilcat" Wermcrantz (Commentator)
- Mitch "MitchMan" McBride (Commentator)
- Lauren "Pansy" Scott (Commentator)
- Ryan "Ryancentral" Horton (Commentator)
- Josh "Sideshow" Wilkinson (Commentator)
- Tom "Tombizz" Bissmire (Commentator)
- David "prius" Kuntz (Observer)
- Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo (Observer)
- Felix "Synga" Regitz (Observer)
- Nicholas "Yehty" Tesolin (Observer)
Streams
- twitch.tv/valorant
- twitch.tv/valorantleague_tr
- twitch.tv/ru_valorant
- twitch.tv/valorantleague_dach
- twitch.tv/valorant_jpn
- twitch.tv/agentsrange_it
- twitch.tv/polsatgames
- twitch.tv/lvpes2
- twitch.tv/valleague_fr
- twitch.tv/leetesport
- twitch.tv/leetplus
- twitch.tv/esportsfinland
- twitch.tv/valorant_kr
- twitch.tv/valorant_br
- twitch.tv/VALORANT_LA
- twitch.tv/valorantleague_mena
Coverage
VLR.gg is covering all of Champions in our event hub, which includes our live match ticker and stats to comb over. The event also features pick'ems.