The third VALORANT world championship will take place in North America for the first time in 2023, culminating in the final days of playoffs at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, California. The first year of partnership has been nothing short of exciting, and the world championship tournament to wrap it up should be no exception.
Sixteen teams will come from the Americas, EMEA, Pacific, and China to compete in a four-group round-robin group stage that will send eight teams to a double-elimination playoff bracket. Only one team will join the ranks of Acend and LOUD as a world champion of VALORANT.
Which teams have qualified for VALORANT Champions 2023?
Here are all the teams that have confirmed their spot at Champions 2023 following their VCT season, Masters Tokyo, and the Last Chance Qualifiers.
EMEA is sending two teams (Giants Gaming and NAVI) to Champions via the Last Chance Qualifier, thanks to Fnatic’s victory at Masters Tokyo.
Fnatic
Fnatic are in the process of building a dynasty while seeking to pull off a one-of-a-kind achievement by clean sweeping every single international VALORANT trophy this year. Since VCT LOCK//IN, the stacked European roster have only lost a single match all year, led by the captivating and charismatic Boaster and his all-star teammates Leo, Chronicle, Alfajer, and Derke.
Team Liquid
Liquid have had quite the mixed bag of results this year. They started slow during the EMEA VCT season but rallied before pulling off a major upset in the grand finals and handed Fnatic their only loss of the year while claiming the domestic title. But, internationally, the team of Jamppi, Redgar, nAts, soulcas, and Sayf has struggled significantly.
FUT Esports
Turkey has rallied behind a resilient FUT Esports roster that is still seeking that breakout international performance. In both the EMEA VCT playoffs and at Masters Tokyo, they did just enough to edge out the talented trophy-lifting NAVI roster to book an insured spot in Champions. The group of mojj, qRaxs, qw1, MrFaliN, and ATA KAPTAN have a big ask ahead of them to make a deep run at Champions.
Evil Geniuses
Ever since the major upset that saw MIBR beat 100 Thieves, sending Evil Geniuses to the Americas playoffs, the EG players have been the talk of pro VALORANT fans worldwide. After an underwhelming start to their season, EG went on a legendary run at both Americas playoffs and Masters Tokyo, finishing top three at both events. All eyes will be back on Boostio, Ethan, jawgemo, C0M, and Demon1 again in Champions.
NRG
One of the most stacked rosters in the Americas region has been consistently excellent all year, coming close in both Americas playoffs and Masters Tokyo to picking up another trophy. Like their NA counterparts in EG, a slow start for NRG gave way to a strong showing in the second half of the season and at Masters. While s0m seeks his first trophy, FNS, crashies, Victor, and ardiis are all seeking to add to their trophy cabinets.
LOUD
The reigning world champions have not taken their foot off the gas, even after swapping out parts of their roster at the start of the year. Heading into Masters Tokyo, LOUD were in top form, reaching the grand finals at LOCK//IN and finishing first in the Americas League. But aspas, Less, Saadhak, cauanzin, and tuzy faltered unexpectedly, losing two straight 2-0 matches and crashing out of playoffs. That being said, LOUD struggled at the Masters before Champions last year, and we all know who ended up claiming the world title.
Paper Rex
Paper Rex’s midseason roster swap placed superstar Something on the starting roster, igniting a late-season run in which they won nine straight matches while only dropping four maps en route to a VCT Pacific title. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Paper Rex were forced to compete at Masters without Something but still managed to secure wins over DRX, NRG, and EDward Gaming and finish in third place. With Something returning, he and mindfreak, f0rsakeN, d4v31, and Jinggg will look to jump-start another winning streak.
DRX
The kings of Korea, DRX looked poised to break through this year and win that elusive international trophy that’s been out of reach. But after a strong start to the year between LOCK//IN and the Pacific season, they’ve hit a run of inconsistency, alternating wins and losses through the end of the regular season, through the Pacific playoffs, and through Masters Tokyo. Stax, Rb, BuZz, MaKo, and Foxy9 will need a big recovery to make it deep at Champions 2023.
T1
T1 made a big bet by bringing in a lot of star-studded names when they pulled out of North America and moved to Korea for VCT. Their Korean roster is made up of players who have competed all over: Korea, Japan, NA, and even the Overwatch League. They did just enough to make it to Masters, but have struggled on the international stage both times this year. Munchkin, xeta, Carpe, Sayaplayer, and ban will have to step up at Champions 2023.
EDward Gaming
After a rocky start to the international competition, China officially arrived via EDward Gaming at Masters Tokyo. With his fearless style of play, clear passion, and stylish celebrations, sniper extraordinaire Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang became an instant sensation at Tokyo. At Masters, EDG knocked off several impressive names including NAVI, T1, and LOUD before eventually succumbing to Paper Rex. A lot of attention will be on ZmjjKK, CHICHOO, Haodogn, nobody, and Smoggy at Champions.
Bilibili Gaming
Bilibili Gaming will be making its international VALORANT debut at Champions 2023. The past few months have been nearly flawless for Bilibili between the FGC VALORANT Invitational and the China qualifier for Champions 2022, dropping only one series to EDG over their last 12. With a League roster in Worlds contention, Bilibili could firmly establish itself as an esports dynasty in China, if its VALORANT roster can mimic or even one-up EDG’s run at Masters Tokyo.
FunPlus Phoenix
This isn’t the same FPX team from 2022; the European roster consisting of the now NAVI core and NRG’s ardiis left the organization at the end of that year as the org did not acquire a partnered spot in the EMEA VCT. Knowing that VALORANT would eventually release in China, FPX returned to the country it built a legacy in with League, signing a roster of Chinese and Taiwanese players. The team of AAAAy, BerLIN, TZH, WudiYuChEn, and Yuicaw nearly squandered a bye in the China qualifier by losing to TYLOO in their first game but rallied with three straight lower bracket wins to secure the region’s final spot in Champions.
Giants Gaming
Giants have claimed the first of two EMEA Last Chance Qualifier spots, with the Spanish organization reaching its first international VCT event after three years. The international roster featuring a core of former G2 players sat just above the middle of the pack during the EMEA season but fell well short of reaching Masters Tokyo with two straight 0-2 playoff losses. Their regular season performance meant a first-round bye at the LCQ, though, and the team of Fit1nho, hoody, nukkye, rhyme, and Cloud pounced on a Champions spot with two straight 2-0 wins against Karmine Corp and NAVI.
NAVI
Thanks to Fnatic’s big win at Masters Tokyo, EMEA earned an extra slot at Champions. So even though NAVI lost to Giants in the EMEA Last Chance Qualifier grand finals, the Ukranian team had already secured their spot at Champions after a clean 3-0 sweep against KOI in the lower bracket finals. ANGE1, Shao, cNed, SUYGETSU, and Zyppan will be gunning for that big win in Los Angeles when Champions begins.
ZETA DIVISION
In the Pacific Last Chance Qualifier, it was Japan’s ZETA DIVISION who claimed one of the last few spots at Champions with a surprising agent pick—Chamber. In both the upper final and grand final against Team Secret, Laz crushed the competition with Chamber on Lotus and Fracture, earning himself an MVP title and his team a chance to compete at Champions. There, we may be seeing more of Chamber and other off-meta picks from Laz, crow, Dep, SugarZ3ro, and TENNN.
KRÜ Esports
To say KRÜ Esports had a rough 2023 season is an understatement. The team didn’t win a single series in the regular season, going 0-9. But, everything changed for KRÜ at the VCT Americas’ Last Chance Qualifier. In fact, they flipped the script and did the complete opposite—they won all five of their LCQ series, including the grand finals against Leviatán. Besides Leviatán, KRÜ stars keznit, Melser, Klaus, DaveeyS, and Nagz had to take down MIBR, FURIA, and Cloud9 to earn their spot in Champions.
