The eight directly-invited teams to TI 2025 will be ed by eight other squads from the regional qualifiers, which will take place in June.
Dota 2 developer Valve Software has revealed the list of directly-invited teams and regional qualifier schedule for The International (TI) 2025, this year’s iteration of Dota 2’s annual world championship tournament, on Thursday (15 May).
As in previous editions of the tournament, TI 2025 will hand out direct invites to eight of the best-performing teams so far this year, with defending TI champions Team Liquid leading the pack. ing them are Tundra Esports, Team Falcons, and Gaimin Gladiators from Western Europe; PARIVISION, BetBoom Team, and Team Spirit from Eastern Europe, as well as Team Tidebound from China.
Those eight directly-invited teams will be ed by eight other squads from the regional qualifiers to complete the list of 16 competitors for this year’s Aegis of Champions. TI 2025’s regional qualifiers will be hosted from 4 to 17 June, featuring three batches of two qualifiers being played at a time.
Two teams each from Western Europe and Southeast Asia will earn spots in TI 2025 through the regional qualifiers, while Eastern Europe, China, North America, and South America will have one slot apiece. The schedule for the TI 2025 regional qualifiers, as well as the list of participating teams in each, are listed below:
Eastern Europe and South America (4 to 8 June)
Eastern Europe (1 slot)
- Aurora Gaming
- Natus Vincere
- NAVI Junior
- One Move
- L1GA TEAM
- Virtus.pro
- (+4 teams from Open Qualifiers)
South America (1 slot)
- HEROIC
- OG.LATAM
- Edge
- Team Den
- (+6 teams from Open Qualifiers)
China and North America (9 to 12 June)
North America (1 slot)
- Shopify Rebellion
- Wildcard
- (+6 teams from Open Qualifiers)
China (1 slot)
- Xtreme Gaming
- Yakult Brothers
- (+6 teams from Open Qualifiers)
Southeast Asia and Western Europe (13 to 17 June)
Western Europe (2 slots)
- Nigma Galaxy
- MOUZ
- OG
- AVULUS
- (+6 teams from Open Qualifiers)
Southeast Asia (2 slots)
- TALON
- BOOM Esports
- Trailer Park Boys
- The MongolZ
- Ivory
- Execration
- (+4 teams from Open Qualifiers)
TI 2025 is set to take place from 4 to 14 September in Hamburg, , with the Playoffs being hosted in the Barclays Arena. This will be the first time since the inaugural edition of TI back in 2011 that Dota 2’s world championship tournament was hosted in . TI 2011 notably saw Dota 2 first officially revealed to the world in the form of a US$1 million tournament, something unheard of in esports at the time.
TI 2025 will be split into two distinct phases, The Road to The International and The International proper, as well as a new Swiss-format Group Stage. The Road to The International will feature the new Swiss-format Group Stage and Special Elimination Round while The International proper will feature the Playoffs.
TI 2025’s Group Stage and Special Elimination Round will run from 4 to 7 September. The new Swiss-format Group Stage will feature the 16 participating teams competing in a five-round Swiss bracket with best-of-three matches. Teams will need to win four series in order to advance to the Playoffs while those that suffer four losses will be eliminated, with three teams advancing to the Playoffs and three others getting eliminated after the Group Stage.
The 10 other teams will then have to play in the Special Elimination Round, where the high seeds will face the low seeds, with the winners advancing to the Playoffs and the losers getting eliminated. In total, this year’s Road to The International will see eight teams advance to The International itself while eight others will have their journeys cut short early.
The International proper, i.e. the Playoffs, will take place from 11 to 14 September, and still follow the tried-and-tested double-elimination format that fans have grown accustomed to. However, instead of having some teams start in the lower bracket as in previous editions, TI 2025’s Playoffs will have all eight Playoff-qualified teams start in the upper bracket.
As usual, TI 2025’s Playoffs will feature best-of-three matches except for the Grand Finals, which will be a full best-of-five series for the coveted Aegis of Champions.
