The International 2026 Qualifier Race Begins After Valve Confirms Seven Direct Invites
Valve has announced the teams that have been directly invited to The International 2026 Dota 2 Championship, which means that we now have our first glimpse at how The International will unfold on the way to Shanghai. What’s important is that the teams that are still left to qualify to The International are still unknown.
Seven direct invitations include Aurora Gaming, BoomBoys, Team Falcons, Team Liquid, Tundra Esports, Xtreme Gaming, and Team Yandex. Valve says that the regional qualifiers for the remaining nine slots will take place from 15th to 28th June.
For most Dota 2 viewers, this is a milestone towards The International. But it’s also the first milestone for those who place bets on Dota 2 teams. The invited teams know that they do not face elimination until August. Others have to make it past June first.
The International 2026 Key Details
| The International 2026 | What we know |
| Invited teams | 7 teams are already in |
| Still open | 9 qualifier spots |
| Qualifiers | 15–28 June |
| Main event | 20–23 August |
| Venue | SPD Bank Oriental Sports Center, Shanghai |
Seven Teams Have Already Qualified
The list of teams invited to The International 2026 is rather short this year. Team Falcons are the most noticeable one among them since they are the defending champions. Teams such as Team Liquid and Tundra Esports ensure the high-level representation of Western Europe, whereas teams such as Aurora Gaming, Team Yandex, and BoomBoys ensure the same for Eastern Europe.
Xtreme Gaming is also worth mentioning since it is the only Chinese direct invitee and it will have an additional importance because The International 2026 will take place in Shanghai. It is a rather stressful factor.
The last point that requires a separate mention is the participation of BoomBoys. According to Forbes, it is actually the BetBoom roster that plays under another name because any gambling-based sponsorship is banned at The International. It might seem like just a new team name for those who are not interested in Dota 2. Still, a bettor can see another meaning in that information.
The Key Region To Watch Will Be Europe
The most radical shift in terms of format change takes place in Europe. The old qualifier was divided into Western Europe and Eastern Europe, but Valve decided to combine both regions into one European qualifier which has a total of four slots.
While four slots seem like quite a bit on paper, things might appear a bit differently in action. The region remains one of the most competitive when it comes to Dota 2 tournaments, and even if some of the better teams will get invites, the bracket could be filled with good enough sides to create an extremely tough environment where even a favorite could be knocked off track by a poor draft, patch reading or performance in a BO3.
For this reason, the European qualifier could turn out to be highly relevant in betting markets. Betting on Dota 2 always provides more data for bookies to work with than some other e-sports, meaning that their lines are generally sharp, yet things can still change. In case one team manages to breeze through the qualifier, the lines before August might change drastically.
Those who want to understand more about betting on esports games can use our esports betting guide, while those considering downloading mobile betting apps in NZ will find the latter helpful.
Reasons to Pay Attention to June
Generally speaking, The International always ranks among the major events for Dota 2 bets. This makes outright betting, match winners, map handicapping, totals, and live bets much more entertaining when the lineup of the teams becomes public.
At the moment, however, there is no such information, and this is exactly why one should pay attention to this event. It is important to see who performs well and who is just playing on reputation. In case of a successful performance during qualifiers, one can learn much more about a particular team than from any outdated rating. If not, one can get the opposite results.
There are several aspects to watch out for: first, to see which European teams participate in the competition; second, whether there is any strong Chinese team except for Xtreme Gaming; third, how fast the bookies update their futures betting odds after revealing the line-up of the 16 teams.
Shanghai Gets Some More Clout
In The International 2026, Dota 2’s biggest championship tournament will be making a return trip to Shanghai. The group stage takes place between 13th and 16th August, while the actual event itself will happen between 20th and 23rd August at the SPD Bank Oriental Sports Center.
Video: Official announcement of The International 2026 location by Dota 2.
Hosting The International 2026 is another feather in Shanghai’s cap. This Chinese city had The International 2019, where OG won its second title at The International. With invitee Xtreme Gaming on board, along with other Chinese teams’ chances of qualifying, there is some extra background for this championship too.
What’s Coming Next?
The next vital stage is the qualifiers, which are going to take place from 15 to 28 June and determine the last nine teams to compete in The International 2026. After this event, the situation will be clear because all 16 teams are going to participate in the tournament, and then we can talk about favorites.
In other words, all we see at the moment is just a prediction. Team Falcons carry the champion tag. Europe seems to be the most competitive region among all qualifiers. Then there is China that possesses an advantage of the home team and invited Xtreme Gaming. That’s it; everything else depends on June.
