Valve has revealed direct invitations to The International 2026 in Shanghai. This time, 16 teams will take part in the main Dota 2 tournament, seven of them have already received direct invitations.
Direct invitations for TI 2026 have been received:
- Team Falcons (TI 2025 Champion);
- Team Liquid;
- Tundra Esports;
- Aurora Gaming;
- Xtreme Gaming;
- Team Yandex;
- BetBoom Team.
It is noteworthy that the BetBoom Team will compete at the tournament under the BoomBoys tag due to various restrictions of gambling branding in China.
The remaining nine slots will be played through regional qualifiers. The main change of the season is the merging of Eastern and Western Europe into one European selection with four TI slots. The distribution of the number of slots is as follows:
- Europe – 4;
- China – 2;
- Southeast Asia – 1;
- North America – 1;
- South America – 1.
The open qualifiers will be held from June 9 to 12, and the regional qualifiers will be held from June 15 to June 28, 2026. After June 28, 2026, the full composition of the sixteen TI 2026 participants will be formed.
TI 2026 will be held in Shanghai, China, on August 13-23, 2026. The prize fund of the event will grow, starting from 1.6 million dollars.
