The New Home for VALORANT Esports in Europe, Turkey, and CIS in 2023
The upcoming VALORANT esports season in Europe, Turkey, and CIS has finally found its new home for 2023. Starting in March 2023, the VCT EMEA league will kick off at a brand new studio located at the Messe Berlin Charlottenburg. This comes after the São Paulo Kickoff event, which will feature all 30 global partnered teams.
The new studio, currently under construction, is located separately from Riot’s Berlin headquarters and the LEC Studio. This is to accommodate the simultaneous events of LEC and VCT EMEA, ensuring that each event has its own dedicated space. Over the past two years, the VALORANT events and stages have been developing their own unique style and atmosphere, distinct from the events for pro League of Legends.
The VCT EMEA team has also officially shared the format for the inaugural season in 2023. The league will feature a single round-robin format spread across eight weeks, with matches taking place on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Each of the 10 teams will compete in nine matches, facing off against all other nine competitors throughout the season.
At the end of the league, the top six teams will advance to a modified double-elimination bracket. From there, the top-placing teams from the VCT EMEA playoffs will move on to the Masters events in June, followed by the Last Chance Qualifier in July, and finally, the Champions tournament in August. Alongside the VCT EMEA schedule, there will also be Challengers tournaments leading up to an Ascension tournament in July, where one team will secure a two-year promotion slot for VCT EMEA in the following year.
Starting from the second season onwards, the international VCT leagues will have two regular season splits. However, for the inaugural season in 2023, the first split will be replaced by the São Paulo Kickoff event.
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