The International 2025: Format, teams, schedule

As this year’s Dota 2 esports season comes to a close, attention has turned to The International 2025, the fourteenth edition of Valve‘s season-ending annual tournament for the MOBA title.

16 teams from around the world will head to Hamburg, Germany, for a chance to lift the Aegis of Champions, along with the lion’s share of a prize pool that continues to increase through sales of Supporter Bundles.

Ahead of the event, Esports Insider takes a closer look at The International 2025 format, the participating teams, and the tournament schedule.

Similar to the 2024 edition, The International 2025 format is split into the Group Stage and the Playoffs.

The Group Stage will run from September 4th to 7th, with all 16 teams competing in a Swiss system. All matches in the Group Stage are best-of-three, with the top three advancing to the Playoffs.

Teams that finish the Group Stage between fourth and 13th place will earn a place in the elimination round, which determines the final five Playoffs teams.

The teams ranking below 13th in the Group Stage are eliminated from the tournament.

Eight teams will contest the Playoffs, running from September 11th to 14th. To determine the champion, a double-elimination bracket using best-of-threes will be used until the Grand Final, which will be a best-of-five series.

Valve has revealed that the base prize pool for the event is $1.6m (~£1.1m). However, 30% of each Supporter Bundle that is purchased will also be added to the existing prize pool.

As of August 22nd, the total prize pool is $1,934,476 (~£1,431,640), and as sales of the Supporter Bundles continue, the prize pool is expected to increase further.

Eight of the 16 teams competing at The International 2025 have received direct invitations to the tournament, while the other eight have earned their place through six regional qualifiers.

Below are all the teams competing at Dota 2’s biggest event of the year:

Fans can tune into all stages of The International 2025 through the event’s Twitch and YouTube channels, while Chinese community can catch the action on Dota 2’s official Weibo channel.