VALORANT Champions Tour in Europe, Middle East and Africa will continue Stage 1 Challengers competition this week, sources close to Upcomer said Wednesday. However, some games will be postponed further.
After resuming on Friday, the league will feature a super week format starting March 11, with teams playing out the matches missed from last week’s postponement. As a result, teams will play a minimum of two games. The only exceptions include the match between FunPlus Phoenix and Natus Vincere, who will not compete this week, and the match between Fnatic and Guild Esports, which will be postponed until next week.
Gambit Esports will be the only team to compete in the upcoming super week with Commonwealth of Independent States representation. The matches will also be streamed simultaneously with two separate broadcasts.
VCT EMEA returns after a week off
VCT EMEA was postponed last week, Week 3 of its run, due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. The league features three teams with ties and players from the two countries. The CIS VALORANT Regional League was also postponed.
After careful consideration, we have decided to postpone VCT EMEA Week 3 games. Our community’s welfare is integral to us and at this time, our number one priority is to support the players, casters, staff and fans affected by the escalating crisis in Ukraine.
— VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA (@valesports_emea) February 24, 2022
“Our community’s welfare is integral to us and, at this time, our No. 1 priority is to support the players, casters, staff and fans affected by the escalating crisis in Ukraine,” a statement from Riot Games on the postponement said.
Other leagues in the VCT have continued as normal. The league will attempt to catchup with its regular schedule to stay consistent with the rest of the world. The group stage for the event was originally slated to end on March 13 with the playoff stage continuing on March 22. With the way the schedule has been shifted, and considering the teams that will not participate in the league matches this week, this timetable will be hard to maintain.
On Wednesday, a Ukrainian official called for game developers to leave the Russian market and bar players from competing in international esports. A few tournament organizers have also restricted or banned Russian teams from competing. Riot Games has yet to release a statement on whether they will do the same.
Matches are set to begin at 10 a.m. ET.
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