Riot Games has revealed that the European, Middle Eastern and African region will be expanded to include regional leagues, an amateur circuit and a Game Changers event, planned for later this year. Following a successful inaugural VALORANT Championship Tour season in EMEA, the developer is looking to include regional representation to ensure localized territories have the chance to compete at the highest level for VCT 2022.
The EMEA VCT
The top four teams from the EMEA Region: Team Liquid, Acend, Gambit and Fnatic, will automatically qualify for the first stage of VCT next year.
Eight more spots will be allocated through two open and closed qualifiers in each territory with four spots from Europe, two from Turkey and two from CIS. Teams in the Middle East and North Africa will be able to compete in any qualifier.
Teams can qualify for Stage 2 through the new VCT Promotion Tournament. This will include the winners of eight new VALORANT Regional Leagues competing against the bottom two VCT teams from Stage 1. There will be two spots available for Stage 2.
The first VALORANT Challengers events in EMEA will begin in February, and conclude in March. The second events take place from May to July. The new VALORANT Regional Leagues will run alongside these events.
The first and second VALORANT Masters events will take place in April and July, respectively.
Champions will begin in late August and conclude in September. The remainder of the calendar will be filled with two third party events in October and December.
The VALORANT Regional Leagues (VRL)
The Regional Leagues will attempt to incorporate local teams from eight regions in 2022.
Players from the following regions will be able to compete in the regional leagues: France, Spain, UK, Ireland and Nordics, Poland, CIS, MENA, Turkey and DACH.
Each league will be operated by local partners.
The season will conclude with a playoff event and one team from each region will be crowned victorious. The winner of each regional league will then qualify for the VCT Promotion Tournament. In Stage 2, each VRL winner will then qualify for the VRL EMEA finals.
The VRL open qualifiers will begin on Jan. 24 with the first season set to begin on Feb. 14.
EMEA Game Changers
Riot Games is set to host three VCT Game Changers series in 2022.
The first event, which will begin in January, is set to conclude in November with an international Game Changers event.
The other two series will begin in May and September. Each series will offer qualification for the international event.
The new season will also include an amateur circuit, dubbed ‘Game Changers EMEA Academy.’ This circuit will include six tournaments throughout the year.
VALORANT Regional Circuits (VRCs)
Next year, a separate amateur circuit for regional talent across EMEA will also feature.
The circuit will run similarly to a regular VCT EMEA series, with teams battling it out to earn circuit points before one final tournament to decide the winners.
Each EMEA VCT 2022 event will also be broadcast in the following languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Polish and Arabic.
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