Global Esports has qualified for the VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026, the biggest tournament in the franchise. VCT Pacific also announced the good news on their Instagram page on September 4, 2026, declaring 2026 to be “a year of many firsts” for the team. It is the first time that the organization has participated in a VCT Champions event, and it will make history for the first ever VALORANT esports team from India.
Global Esports has had their best-ever postseason run as they have made it to the VCT Pacific Stage 2 playoffs. The team has defeated KIWOOM DRX 2-1 in the first round of the playoffs and then swept VARREL 2-0 to reach the upper bracket final in Busan.
The best players on the team, Filipino prodigy Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza and Xavier “xavi8k” Juan both played incredible performances in the early rounds of the tournament. Juan scored 56 total kills in his series against KIWOOM DRX while Mendoza followed up with 38 frags in the team’s series against VARREL, including a phenomenal 19-frag performance on SUMMIT.
Global Esports faced Nongshim RedForce in the upper bracket final on September 4. The team from Busan, South Korea, won the series 2-1 and sent Global Esports to the lower bracket of the VCT Pacific Stage 2 playoffs. The result did not hurt the chances of the Indian squad at the VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026, however, as they still had the best chances at the event through the VCT Pacific region, with the qualification slots for the Champions event being distributed between Global Esports, T1, and VARREL over the weekend.
VCT Pacific Qualifiers Confirmed for the VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026
There were two spots from the VCT Pacific region that were available for the VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026. Before the start of the VCT Pacific Stage 2 playoffs in Busan, Paper Rex and Nongshim RedForce both had enough Championship Points (CP) to qualify for the VCT Champions event, having placed within the top two in Masters Santiago and Masters London, and one of the regional tournaments, respectively.
Now that Global Esports has qualified for the VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026, it has become the first Indian organization to ever qualify for the VCT Champions tournament, and the first ever VALORANT esports team from India in general. This is a major milestone for the region, which has struggled to produce competitive VALORANT esports teams at the international level.
VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026 – Dates and Format
VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026 will take place in Shanghai, China, from September 24th to October 18th, 2026. It will be the first time that the VCT regional league has held its world championships in China. The event will have a prize pool of $2.25 million, with $1 million, with the winning team earning the lion’s share of the prize.
The VCT Champions 2026 will see the participation of sixteen (16) teams in total, with four (4) teams qualifying from each of the four VCT international regions – the Americas, EMEA, Pacific, and China. The teams will be divided into four groups of four, with a GSL-style double elimination group stage that will have the top two teams from each group advancing to the playoffs.
- Saturday, September 5, 2026
