Riot unveils VCT EMEA Stage 2 schedule

Riot Games published the format and schedule for VCT EMEA Stage 2, a six-week series that will decide the region’s representatives for VALORANT Champions Shanghai. The competition begins with a Group Stage on July 15 and finishes with Finals in Barcelona on August 28–30.

The Group Stage will feature 12 teams split into two groups of six. Matches are scheduled Wednesday through Sunday, with two best-of-three matches per show day. Group Alpha comprises BBL, NaVi, PCIFIC, Team Vitality, FUT and Gentle Mates. Group Omega includes Team Heretics, Eternal Fire, Fnatic, Team Liquid, GiantX and Karmine Corp. The top four teams from each group advance directly to the Playoffs.

Teams that do not qualify directly enter the Play-ins, set for August 6–16. Four teams from the Challenger circuit will join an eight-team double-elimination bracket of VCT EMEA sides that missed direct qualification. The Challenger phase runs June 22–29, with its playoffs from June 30 to July 5. A Last Chance Qualifier on July 12 will award the final Challenger slot.

Playoffs will be held live on the Arena Stage in Berlin from August 20–23, using a new stage constructed for Stage 2. Tickets for Playoffs week go on sale July 8 at 17:00 BST through Riot’s ticketing site. The Stage 2 Finals take place August 28–30 at the Olímpic Arena in Barcelona, where the Stage 2 champion will be crowned and EMEA’s final slots for VALORANT Champions Shanghai confirmed.

Several teams enter Stage 2 with roster or form changes. Fnatic adjusted its lineup after missing Masters London. Team Vitality recorded a playoff victory over Team Heretics in earlier rounds; Heretics enters Stage 2 as the defending Stage champion. FUT logged recent strong results during the season’s opening matches.

Riot has not released the full on-site calendar for shared use of the Berlin stage and streaming studios with the League of Legends EU competition; the exact schedule for concurrent events will be announced later. Stage 2 follows the season structure of group play, Play-ins and Playoffs feeding into international events later in the year.