The first-person tactical hero shooter video game Valorant had a tournament at the 2025 Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 8 to 13, 2025. Sixteen teams took part in this tournament – two each from Stage 1 of the Valorant Champions Tour in the Americas, China, EMEA, and the Pacific, as well as two each from qualification events in the same regions. Teams qualified based on their performance in these tournaments.
It was the first Valorant tournament at the Esports World Cup, which is part of a three-year partnership between game developer Riot Games and the Esports World Cup Foundation until 2027 to bring Valorant, League of Legends, and Teamfight Tactics into the event.
Team Heretics won the tournament after beating Fnatic in the final, 3–2, in a reverse sweep after being down two maps.
Format In the group stage, the sixteen (16) teams were divided into four groups and competed in a GSL-style double elimination bracket, with the first two teams to achieve two wins advancing to the quarterfinals. The opening matches were best-of-ones but the remaining matches were best-of-threes
The playoffs were an eight-team single-elimination bracket. The teams that lost in the semifinals will compete in a third-place match. All matches in the playoffs were best-of-threes but the final was a best-of-five.
Qualification Teams qualified through their placements in Stage 1 of the Valorant Champions Tour in the Americas, China, EMEA, and the Pacific, two each from Americas, EMEA, and Pacific qualifiers, and two from Act 2 of the China Evolution Series. Qualified teams (*) Non-partner teams in franchise system Region Stage 2 Winner Stage 2 Runners-upAmericas G2 Esports* SentinelsChina XLG Esports* Bilibili GamingEMEA Fnatic Team HereticsPacific Rex Regum Qeon Gen.G Event Winner Runners-upAmericas Qualifier NRG Esports 100 ThievesChina Evolution Series Edward Gaming Titan Esports ClubEMEA Qualifier BBL Esports Karmine CorpPacific Qualifier Paper Rex DRX
Draw A draw was conducted for the group stage on 25 June 2025. In each group, one team in each region was placed. Group A Group B Group C Group D G2 EsportsXLG EsportsRex Regum QeonFnaticBilibili GamingSentinelsTeam HereticsGen.GPaper RexBBL EsportsNRG EsportsEdward GamingKarmine CorpDRXTitan Esports Club100 Thieves
Group stage Dates: 8–10 July 2025 Sixteen teams were drawn into four groups of four teams each. Teams from the same region cannot be placed in the same group. Double elimination; opening matches are best-of-one; all other matches best-of-three. The eight teams consisting of the winners and runners-up of each group advance to the Playoff Stage. Remaining teams are eliminated. Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Playoffs Dates: 11–13 July 2025 Eight teams were drawn into matchups based on a draw Single elimination; matches in quarterfinals and semifinals are best-of-three series. Grand Final will be best-of-five
Ranking A base prize pool of US$1,250,000 was offered for the tournament. The prize pool is spread among the teams as seen below: Place Team Prize (USD) 1st Team Heretics $500,000 2nd Fnatic $230,000 3rd Gen.G $130,000 4th Paper Rex $70,000 5th–8th Sentinels $40,000 Karmine Corp NRG Esports BBL Esports 9th–12th Bilibili Gaming $25,000 DRX Rex Regum Qeon Edward Gaming 13th–16th G2 Esports $15,000 XLG Esports Titan Esports Club 100 Thieves
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