Riot Games announces VALORANT Champions 2022 will be in Istanbul
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VALORANT Champions Istanbul
Provided by Riot Games

Riot Games announces VALORANT Champions 2022 will be in Istanbul

Stage 2 Masters will be held in Copenhagen

The location for VALORANT Champions 2022 will be Istanbul, Turkey, Riot Games announced on Friday. Riot also announced that Stage 2 Masters 2022 will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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Champions is the end-of-year culmination of the VALORANT Champions Tour. This will be the second iteration of the event, with Acend claiming the first trophy at last year’s tournament. Champions 2022 will run from September 2-18 and feature 16 teams. Ten teams will qualify to Champions through an accumulation of regular season VCT circuit points. The remaining six will be selected through the Last Chance Qualifiers in August.

Before Champions in Istanbul, there’s still the Stage 2 Masters. Each region will send teams based on the results of their Challengers event to Copenhagen. Masters will run from July 10-24 and feature 12 teams. More details about the event will be announced in the coming weeks. Copenhagen will also mark the first ever live audience at a major VCT event.

“Our goal is to see our biggest international events played in front of a live audience and both of these cities provided clear pathways towards this goal, while also providing the best possible guarantee that all qualified teams will be able to safely attend and compete,” the announcement read.

The announcement ended speculation about the locations for the remaining two international events in the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022 season. Stage 1 Masters, the first international event of the year, took place in ReykjavĂ­k, Iceland. In 2021, both Stage 2 Masters and Champions were held in Berlin, Germany. This means that both Istanbul and Copenhagen will be new ground for the VCT.

Copenhagen is a city that has played host to esports events countless times. The country of Denmark has a massive esports infrastructure that makes Copenhagen an ideal location for a VCT event. Istanbul, in contrast, does not have the same level of history playing host to international esports events. That said, VALORANT is massive in Turkey and having Champions in Istanbul will undoubtedly draw incredible crowds of passionate fans.

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Coby Zucker
Coby Zucker is Upcomer's resident CS:GO writer. He's also played League of Legends at the collegiate level and is a frequent visitor in TFT Challenger Elo. He's a firm believer that Toronto should be the next big esports hub city.