Valorant VCT Champions 2022 – Schedule, Teams, Format & Betting Tips

The Valorant Champions 2022 represents the apex of all Valorant competition throughout the world, with the entire VCT series leading up to the event. The event fields teams from both major and minor regions, with all teams earning their qualification through rigorous rounds of competition throughout 2022. Champions will begin at the end of August and is set to last 19 days, encompassing both the Group Stage & Playoffs Stage.

The entirety of the VCT Champions 2022 will be held in Istanbul at the Volkswagen Arena. Riot has confirmed the Playoffs Stage between the 9^th – 18^th of September will allow for a live crowd on site, allowing more fans to get closer to the action. This is a step forward to normality given Riot’s careful approach in the earlier Masters event where they only allowed a live audience for the last 3 days of competition. The Volkswagon arena can hold up to 5000 spectators, however, given stage set up and Riot’s considerate approach, it is highly unlikely they will sell to maximum capacity.

Watch Valorant Champions 2022 Live:

The two most popular and easiest way to watch Valorant Champions 2022 officially would be through their Youtube and Twitch channel. Given the global nature of the competition and what they have done in the past, we can expect additional co-streams and broadcasts in multiple languages.

Valorant Champions Tournament Format

Despite Valorant’s competitive scene continuing to grow and expanding to more regions than ever, the 2022 Valorant Champions continues hosts 16 teams, ideal for a two-stage competition.

VCT Champions Group stage: 31^st August – 8^th September

The group stage will split competitors into 4 teams of 4. All matches will be a best of 3, with the double elimination format allowing only the top two teams in each group to advance to playoffs. This format is advantageous to dominant teams as they are given more chances to advance.

Opening match: The winners will advance to the Winners match, while losers are sent to the Elimination match Winners Match: The winners will advance to Playoffs, while losers are sent to Deciders match Elimination match: The winners will advance to the Deciders match, while losers will finish 13th – 16th place. Deciders Match: The winners will advance to Playoffs, while the losers will finish 9th – 12th place.

VCT Champions Playoffs stage: 9^th September – 18^th September

The playoffs stage will remain as a best of 3 until the lower bracket final and grand final. While a best of 3 may seem on the lower end with such high stakes late in the competition, this is due to playoffs being a double elimination bracket, which already provides a secondary layer of protection to teams who may choke on a single day.

The Volkswagen Arena, home of VCT Champions 2022

Valorant Champions 2022 Teams

Similar to last year, the event will feature 16 teams. Staying true as the apex of Valorant competition globally, it will feature teams from seven different regions primary regions; NA, EMEA, BR, LATAM, KR, JP and APAC. 10 of the 16 teams qualified through earning VCT circuit points in their respective regions, while teams that fell short had an additional opportunity to qualify through the Last Chance Qualifiers.

Below you can see each regional representative, and our dedicated article about their season:

VCT Champions Schedule

Group Stage

VCT Champions Prizepool

Riot have yet to announce the details for the prizepool. However, it is unlikely to drop below the $1,000,000 USD offered in last year’s 2021 Valorant Champions.

We will see the return of the Valorant Champion’s limited release skin bundle given its earlier success. This year, the Champions 2022 bundle will feature both a knife and Phantom, and is set for sale from the 23^rd August to 21^st September. 50% of the proceeds will go directly towards the teams competing in the 2022 Valorant Champions. This skin set will strictly only be available for a limited time, and will never appear in the shop or night market once it passes unlike other skin lines.

VALORANT Champions 2022 Event Pass

The Valorant Champions 2022 event pass is a free pass given to everyone, comprising of 7 levels. Like the battle pass, you advance through your pass by earning xp from playing games or completing missions.

1. Jett Diff spray
2. Gamer title
3. 10 Radianite points
4. NICE! Player card
5. Potato title
6. 10 Radianite points
7. Champions 2022 Dad Hat buddy

Betting on Valorant Champions

With Valorant already being one of the hottest games on esports, there is no doubt there will be many options to bet on Valorant Champions. While this would mean highly competitive odds, it is also important to only visit trusted betting operators to ensure a worry-free and enjoyable betting experience. View our list of the top Valorant odds available for this event.

New to Valorant betting? – Learn all you need to know about Valorant betting in our guide to all things Valorant betting. There are also numerous bonus bet offers for new users which can be extremely lucrative for new punters, with many of the top esports betting sites offering a 1:1 bonus bet deposit offer.

We keep a separate Esports News article for betting analysis and our match predictions. If you want our take on things, head over to Valorant Champions 2022 Match Predictions.

VCT Champions Invite System

The Valorant Champions Tour is the official series of the competitive Valorant scene. Qualifying for and winning Valorant Champions is the primary goal of all teams. The Valorant Championship Tour is split into 3 primary stages of competition; Valorant Challengers, Valorant Masters and Valorant Champions.

Teams who competed throughout 2022 would gain Valorant circuit points for winning Valorant Challenger Playoffs events and through the Masters level events. The primary qualification seeds for the Valorant Champions event will then be determined through the teams with the highest points in their region. For teams that fall slightly short of qualifying through circuit points, there is one final chance event for each major region, directly qualifying the winner to Valorant Champions.

Invites

• 2x NA Circuit Points
• 1x LATAM Circuit points
• 2x EMEA Circuit points
• 1x KR Circuit points
• 2x APAC Circuit Points
• 1x JP Circuit points
• 1x BR Circuit points
• 6x Regional Last Chance Qualifiers

History of VCT Champions

The 2021 Valorant Champion was the first iteration of Valorant’s biggest esports tournament. Valorant had only officially been released on the 2^nd of June 2020. Riot initially used a gradual development process for the Valorant esports scene. At first, privately organised events were welcomed to kickstart the scene, before moving on to joint partnerships like First Strike, before the launch of the Valorant Championship Tournament.

The 2021 Valorant Champions trophy was lifted by Acend.

VCT Champions 2021 Archive

Valorant Champions 2021 Teams

The event will see 16 teams compete for the title of Champions. Valorant Champions is by all means a global tournament with representation from seven different regions; North America, Europe, Korea, Japan, South East Asia, Latin America and Brazil.

The following teams earned an invite:

Valorant Champions Tournament Format

Valorant Champions consist of only two stages, the Group Stage and Playoffs. The group stage is expected to last one week from the 1^st – 7^th of December, while Playoffs will take place between the 8^th – 12^th of December. As the Valorant scene continues to grow like the League of Legends scene, it is likely an additional stage will be added in the future (play-in stage).

Group Stage

The sixteen teams will be split into four groups of four. In a Best of 3 double elimination format, two teams from each group will advance to playoffs. In the group stage, there will be 5 matches played in each group; 2x Opening matches, 1x Winners match, 1x Elimination Match and 1x Deciders match.

• Opening match: The winners will advance to the Winners match, while losers are sent to the Elimination match
• Winners Match: The winners will advance to Playoffs, while losers are sent to Deciders match
• Elimination match: The winners will advance to the Deciders match, while losers will finish 13^th – 16^th place.
• Deciders Match: The winners will advance to Playoffs, while the losers will finish 9^th – 12^th place.

Playoffs Stage

The eight teams that advanced from the Group stage will play in a Best of 3 single elimination format until the Grand finals. Given the more forgiving nature of a double elimination bracket, some have called Riot games to adopt such format in Playoffs of major events (link to https://www.esports.net/news/should-worlds-go-the-way-of-ti-and-make-a-double-elimination-bracket/)

The grand finals will be a Best of 5.

VCT Champions Prize pool

Being the biggest Valorant event of the year, it is only fitting Valorant Champions would host a correspondingly large prizepool. Riot has currently set the prize pool of champions at $1,000,000 USD. This amount may rise if Riot introduces any Valorant Champions themed skin line or other in-game items, a practise Riot has a history of using to crowd fund large events like the League of Legends World Championship.

Valorant Champions 2021 Schedule

All the action starts on December 1st 2021, and will continue for twelve days. The full match schedule can be seen in the image below:

Valorant Champions 2021 Schedule

Star players at Valorant Champions 2021

Tenz – All eyes on are Sentinels Tenz, likely the biggest name in Valorant given his ability to single-handedly carry games. Tenz has one of the, if not the best aim in Valorant, with his sheer mechanical ability to clutch key moments making TenZ a top star.

Redgar – While Redgar may be meme’d for his funny posture, there is no doubt Redgar is an impeccable player. Being the in-game leader of Gambit Esports, the recent winners of Masters Berlin, he is the brains of the currently best Valorant team.

BuZz – Being the primary duelist of Vision Strikers, BuZz strikes fear in everyone when he gets on a roll. While his consistency could certainly improve, his aggressive playstyle makes him a key player to watch out for in Valorant Champions.