A long time after the news that Shanghai will become the home for The International 2026, the developers from Valve finally deigned to show the details — we found out the schedule, format and exact location of the battle.
This Dota 2 championship, which will be the 15th in a row, will unfold within the walls of the Oriental Sports Center — it is there that the 16 strongest teams on the planet will clash for the legendary Aegis of Champions.
By the way, in case anyone has forgotten, TI already visited Shanghai in 2019, but then the show was thundering at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. The current venue, the Oriental Sports Center, is also not a miss — in fact, the semi-finals of LoL in 2017 and even the latest CS2 major from Perfect World were held there.
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Guide for fans from the CIS: Visas, hotels and flights
For those who are planning a landing in China, there are a couple of important points. Firstly, a visa to China 2026 for CIS citizens still requires attention — it is better to apply in advance, along the way, a couple of months before August.
Secondly, forget about the usual plastic: UnionPay cards are your only adequate payment method within the country if you do not want to mess with cash.
It is better to book accommodation in Shanghai in Pudong district, closer to the arena, so as not to waste your life in traffic jams. By the way, rumors have already spread about organized tours to the International — this may be a way out for those who do not want to bother with logistics themselves. To be honest, China is a specific country, so preparation solves everything here.
The schedule and format of The The International 2026 tournament
The tournament will bring together 16 teams — some will receive direct invitations, and the rest will have to gnaw the ground in the qualifiers. Along the way, open qualifiers will be held from June 9 to 12, but Valve has scheduled regional battles for the period from June 15 to 28.
All participants, without exception, will start their journey from the group stage according to the Swiss system — this will happen from August 13 to 16. As a result, only the top eight teams will make it to the main stage in order to find out who the king is in the Double Elimination bracket.
Tickets, by the way, are promised to be put up for sale in the near future — it’s worth following the news.
The International’s view statistics and audience
Although the last TI 2025 jumped to the third most popular among all Dota tournaments, unfortunately, it did not get into the overall global top 10 of esports.
Now that the event is returning to Asia for the first time in four years, fans are honestly frozen waiting for records. For comparison, there were 1.78 million viewers at its peak in 2025, and the Singapore tournament in 2022 attracted almost the same number of 1.75 million people.
Apparently, the Chinese public should give a serious boost to these numbers — this is a huge market that will suck up all the views.
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