Road to VALORANT Champions Paris: Which teams are still in contention?

The participants for VALORANT Champions 2025 Paris are close to being finalised as squads battle towards the VCT Stage 2 Playoffs.

The event will feature a total of 16 teams, including the top two from Stage 2 and two from Championship Points leaderboard from each region.

So far, only G2 Esports and Sentinels have secured confirmed slots, while three Ascension teams have been relegated already.

Esports Insider take a closer look at each VCT league as the race to VALORANT Champions 2025 heats up!

Even though Fnatic currently has the highest number of Championship Points, Team Heretics and Team Liquid can still pull ahead if the organisations maintain current form. That said, Fnatic is the closest to securing a place at Champions.

Talking about the Ascension teams in the region, both Gentle Mates and Apeks failed to register even a single series win in the tournament, and hence, have been relegated back to the Challengers.

The Stage 2 playoffs brackets have been announced for VCT Pacific, offering a clearer picture of the future of teams participating in the event. While Paper Rex tops the Championship Points leaderboard, unlike Fnatic, it doesn’t have a massive advantage.

Ascension team Nongshim RedForce has reached the top eight, earning it a direct invite to 2026 Pacific Ascension. If the team manages to qualify for Champions, it’ll extend its stay in VCT for another year permanently. 

Boom Esports, on the other hand, have been relegated to the Challengers League.

Champions Paris Qualification Status

EDward Gaming and Ascension team XLG Esports currently lead the Championship Points rankings in the region; however, Bilibili Gaming need just one victory to tie the score. All three teams are in the playoffs, making it difficult to predict which two will advance to Champions via Championship Points.

Wolves Esports, the best-performing Chinese team at Masters Toronto, couldn’t make it to the playoffs. However, the team still has a shot at reaching Paris if two of the teams mentioned above manage to qualify for the Grand Finals. This is because the top two of every Stage 2 event automatically qualify for Champions.

Champions Paris Qualification Status

G2 Esports and Sentinels have already booked tickets to VALORANT Champions by accumulating enough Championship Points. The rest of the teams will now battle for qualification through the Stage 2 bracket, but first, the teams have to achieve a top-four finish in the group stage.

At the moment, Sentinels is the only team that has reached the playoffs, so fans will have to wait a few more days to see how the story unfolds.

Champions Paris Qualification Status

VALORANT Champions Paris is scheduled to take place in September and the tickets for the event are already live on AXS’ official website.