Valorant Champions 2026: Vitality, LOUD, G2 and 100 Thieves are the last four in Shanghai, with the final on October 18

Valorant Champions 2026 is down to four teams

Valorant Champions 2026 in Shanghai is down to four teams: Team Vitality, LOUD, G2 Esports and 100 Thieves, according to Insider Gaming's October 12 report. The Upper Bracket Final is Vitality against LOUD, the Lower Bracket Semi-Final is G2 against 100 Thieves, and the tournament is scheduled to finish on October 18.

The official VCT account put it this way on October 11: "The rest have fallen, but four teams stand tall." The four survivors come from only two regions. Vitality represent EMEA, and LOUD, G2 and 100 Thieves represent the Americas. That is the story of this stage, because Champions Shanghai is the first Champions held in China and no Chinese team is left.

Who the four survivors are and how they qualified

Valorant Esports lists the 16-team field by region: NRG, G2, LOUD and 100 Thieves from VCT Americas; Vitality, FUT, Team Liquid and Karmine Corp from EMEA; Paper Rex, Nongshim, Global Esports and T1 from Pacific; and JD Gaming, Xi Lai Gaming, TYLOO and EDward Gaming from China. Qualification came from each territory's Stage 2 playoffs, which sent the top two teams, plus Championship points, which sent two more.

Wikipedia's event page, last edited October 11, lists 100 Thieves as the Americas Stage 2 winner and LOUD as the runner-up, while G2 got in on points. Vitality came in on points from EMEA. Treat the exact qualification routes as the event page's account rather than Riot's, since Riot's own tournament page only lists the teams and the stage structure.

The Valorant Champions 2026 format, in plain terms

The group stage splits 16 teams into four groups of four. Every match is a best-of-three, and the top two from each group advance. Wikipedia's event page adds that teams from the same region cannot share a group and that the opening matches pair seed 1 against seed 4 and seed 2 against seed 3 in a double-elimination format.

Eight teams reach the playoffs, which are also double elimination. Valorant Esports says matches are best-of-three except the lower final and the grand final, which are best-of-five. The double-elimination design is why four teams remain with the bracket still split into an upper and lower side: Vitality and LOUD have not lost in the playoffs yet, while G2 and 100 Thieves are one defeat from going home.

Why no Chinese or Pacific team made the top four

A tournament held in Shanghai now has an Americas and EMEA finish line. All four Chinese entries, JD Gaming, Xi Lai Gaming, TYLOO and EDward Gaming, are out of the top four, as are all four Pacific teams: Paper Rex, Nongshim, Global Esports and T1. Half of the 16-team field, eight teams, came from those two regions.

This is a result, not a verdict on the regions. It is one bracket, with best-of-three series where a single map decides who stays. TYLOO, for example, arrived as the China representative after winning VCT China Stage 2, per Wikipedia's event page, and was eliminated in the group stage. A fair read is that the format punishes a single bad series, which matters when the favourites are not obvious.

What the defending champion's exit changes

NRG won Champions Paris 2025 and arrived in Shanghai as the defending champions. They are no longer among the final four. Wikipedia's event page records them losing in the lower bracket on October 9, although reports differ on which team knocked them out, so we are not naming one.

The practical effect is that there will be no back-to-back champion this year. With Vitality, LOUD, G2 and 100 Thieves left, the title goes to one of four teams, and the bracket shape means Vitality and LOUD each have a cushion that G2 and 100 Thieves no longer have.

Dates, venue and prize pool

Per Wikipedia's event page, the tournament runs September 24 to October 18, 2026, with the group stage and early playoffs at Jing'an Sports Center and the top four and grand final at Mercedes-Benz Arena. Insider Gaming confirms the top four are at the 18,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz Arena. The same page lists the prize pool at $2,250,000, with $1,000,000 for the winner.

Riot's own tournament page does not list a total, only the first-place award, so the $2,250,000 figure is Wikipedia's rather than a Riot statement. The upper final and lower semi-final dates were reported inconsistently across the sources we opened, with one source putting the upper final on October 16 and another putting the grand final on October 18. Check valorantesports.com for the exact times.

How the double-elimination bracket decides the finish

The bracket explains the stakes of the remaining matches. A team that loses in the upper bracket drops into the lower bracket, and a team that loses there is out. Vitality and LOUD, both unbeaten in the playoffs on this reading, meet in the Upper Bracket Final, so the loser still has the lower final to play, a best-of-five per Valorant Esports.

For G2 and 100 Thieves, the next series is elimination. The winner plays the loser of the Upper Bracket Final in the lower final, which is the match that leads to the grand final. Because the grand final is also a best-of-five, the title is decided by a longer series than anything the group stage asked of these teams, which rewards depth over a single strong map.

What to watch in the last matches

The Upper Bracket Final between Vitality and LOUD decides who gets a direct route to the grand final and who drops into a best-of-five lower final. The lower semi-final between G2 and 100 Thieves is an Americas rematch with a place in that lower final at stake, and the loser is out.

A reader following the live bracket should expect the order of the matches to matter more than the seeds, because the lower final and grand final are best-of-five and reward the team with the deepest map pool. The final results will not be in this article, which reflects reporting up to October 12.