The International 2026 Invitations and Qualifiers

[Games News]

Throughout the year, Dota teams around the world battle to prove themselves worthy of direct invitation to The International — and a chance to compete for the Aegis of Champions on the world's biggest stage. Teams that secure invites can begin to focus on their final preparations, while the remaining contenders face one last chance to fight their way in.

Direct Invites

With less than three months until we raise the curtains on the big show, we’re excited to extend these seven teams invitations to Shanghai, China to compete in The International 2026:

• Aurora Gaming
  [expand type=details]
  Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko
  Rafli "Mikoto" Fathur Rahman
  Wei Shen "Ws`" Chung
  Myroslav "Mira" Kolpakov
  Oleh "kaori" Medvedok[/expand]
  
  
• BoomBoys
  [expand type=details]
  Ilia "Kiritych~" Ulianov
  Danil "gpk~" Skutin
  Matvei "MieRo`" Vasiunin
  Vitalie "Save-" Melnic
  Vladislav "Kataomi`" Semenov[/expand]
  
  
• Team Falcons
  [expand type=details]
  Oliver "Skiter" Lepko
  Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak
  Ammar "ATF" Alassaf
  Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen
  Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu[/expand]
  
  
• Team Liquid
  [expand type=details]
  Michael "m1CKe" Vu
  Michał "Nisha" Jankowski
  Marcus "Ace" Christensen
  Samuel "Boxi" Svahn
  Erik "tOfu" Engel[/expand]
  
  
• Tundra Esports
  [expand type=details]
  Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko
  Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov
  Neta "33" Shapira
  Matthew "Ari" Walker
  Matthew "Whitemon" Filemon[/expand]
  
  
• Xtreme Gaming
  [expand type=details]
  Chunyu "Ame" Wang
  Jin Xiang "NothingToSay" Cheng
  Jing "Xxs" Lin
  Linsen "fy" Xu
  Jian Wei "xNova" Yap[/expand]
  
  
• Team Yandex
  [expand type=details]
  Alimzhan "医者watson" Islambekov
  Ilya "CHIRA_JUNIOR" Chirtsov
  Dmitrii "DM" Dorokhin
  Martin "Saksa" Sazdov
  Arman "Malady" Orazbayev[/expand]

Regional Qualifiers

The seven teams above have already earned invitations, which means there are still nine slots available at TI, just waiting for the squads that can survive the crucible of Regional Qualifiers. This year, we've merged the Eastern and Western Europe qualifiers into one single European qualifier with four advancement slots. Check out the full schedule below.

• China, June 15-18 (2 slots)
  [expand type=details]
  Vici Gaming
  Roar Gaming
  Yakutou Brothers
  Team Resilience
  (+4 teams from Open Qualifiers)[/expand]
  
  
• South America, June 15-19 (1 slot)
  [expand type=details]
  LGD Gaming
  PlayTime
  Estar Backs
  Red Hot Chili Pibble
  Amaru Gaming
  Hokori
  (+4 teams from Open Qualifiers)[/expand]
  
  
• Southeast Asia, June 19-23 (1 slot)
  [expand type=details]
  REKONIX
  OG
  Execration
  Team Nemesis
  GLYPH
  (+5 teams from Open Qualifiers)[/expand]
  
  
• Europe, June 21-28 (4 slots)
  [expand type=details]
  TEAM VISION
  Team Spirit
  MOUZ
  Natus Vincere
  Nigma Galaxy
  Virtus.pro
  enjoy
  Power Rangers
  (+8 teams from Open Qualifiers)[/expand]
  
  
• North America, June 24-26 (1 slot)
  [expand type=details]
  GamerLegion
  (+3 teams from Open Qualifiers)[/expand]

Once qualifiers wrap up on June 28, we'll have the full tournament field decided, and the next stop is Shanghai. Group Stage kicks off August 13 - 16 with a three-day, five-round Swiss bracket, followed by five elimination matches played on Sunday. The eight remaining teams bring the competition into the arena August 20 - 23, where the Aegis of Champions awaits.

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