The fifteenth annual The International 2026 Dota 2 tournament will take place in Shanghai from August 13 to 23, 2026. The prestigious offline championship is traditionally organized by Valve and PGL. The 16 best teams in the world will compete for the championship title. The decisive matches of the tournament will be hosted at the Oriental Sports Center arena.
The total prize pool of this year's tournament is $2,882,347 USD. An important change is the departure from the traditional Battle Pass and Compendium — instead, players will receive collections of rewards during the event. The base prize pool was $1,600,000, to which an additional $1,282,347 was added (30% from the sales of club supporter bundles). The winner of The International will take home $1,224,968, which accounts for 42.5% of the total amount, while the silver medalist will receive $374,748.
The tournament will be held in two key stages with an updated format. The Group Stage will run from August 13 to 16 and will be played under a modified Swiss system. All matches will be played in a best-of-three format. The top three teams guarantee themselves a spot in the playoffs, participants finishing in 4th to 13th place will proceed to an elimination round (from which five more teams will advance to the playoffs), and the teams with the lowest results will leave the competition.
The Main Event will take place from August 20 to 23 under a classic double-elimination system. All playoff matches will be held in a Bo3 format, with the exception of the decisive Grand Final, where the champion will be determined in a best-of-five series.
In the first round of the group stage, teams will play their opening matches in a Bo3 format according to the following schedule:
Starting at 5:00 EEST:
- Team Falcons vs LGD Gaming
- Nigma Galaxy vs Iron Wing
- BoomBoys vs OG
- TEAM VISION vs Team Resilience
Starting at 8:00 EEST:
- Team Spirit vs Xtreme Gaming
- Team Liquid vs Vici Gaming
- Aurora Gaming vs GamerLegion
- Team Yandex vs HULIGANI
As a reminder, Dota 2 is Transforming into a Spectator Sport: Why the Game is Losing its Active Audience Ahead of The International 2026