Valve has announced the seven teams that have been directly invited to The International 2026, the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year.
Team Liquid, Team Falcons, Aurora Gaming, Tundra Esports, Xtreme Gaming, Team Yandex and BoomBoys have all received direct invitations to The International 2026 after their performance across the season.
If you are wondering who is on the BoomBoys roster, given it is a new name in the Dota world, it is simply the BetBoom roster that is seemingly being forced to play under a name not related to the gambling site that sponsors them.
All seven of the directly invited teams will head to Shanghai this summer to compete in The International 2026, the annual Dota 2 world championship that is being played in China for the first time since 2019.
Joining them will be nine other teams that make it through the regional qualifiers, which have seen some changes this year. For the first time in quite a while, the western and eastern Europe qualifiers have been merged into one super qualifier, featuring top teams from both regions. Four teams will qualify from the European qualifier, with big names such as Team Spirit, Nigma Galaxy and Parivision, who narrowly missed out on an invite after winning DreamLeague, all involved.
Given the event is being played in China, the qualifier for the region will feature two slots, which given the performance of Chinese teams this year, seems quite generous. Then rounding out the qualifiers are the South American, North American and SEA qualifiers that all have one spot at TI up for grabs.
The qualifiers kick off on June 15, with the China and South America qualifiers, before moving onto the SEA qualifier on June 19, the European qualifier on June 21 and the North American qualifier on June 24.
The International 2026 takes place in Shanghai, China and kicks off with the Group Stage on August 13. The main event then takes place August 20-23 at the SPD Bank Oriental Sports Center, where the champion will be crowned.
Alongside the announcement of the directly invited teams, Valve also released details of the ticketing process, with options for local Dota 2 fans in China and international travelers available. Prices are once again high, with a ticket in the best seats for the final two days of the competition setting you back $460. However, cheaper seats for the same two days are lower at $170, which is much more reasonable for an esports event.