The Esports World Cup Foundation has announced that VALORANT will join the inaugural line-up for the 2026 Esports Nations Cup.
Taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 8th-15th, the VALORANT Esports Nations Cup event will feature a total of 32 national teams. The competition’s prize pool has yet to be disclosed; however, its qualification format has been revealed.
How Can Teams Qualify?
According to a release, national teams will qualify for the bi-annual tournament via a mixture of direct invites, online qualifiers and ‘wildcard slots’.
Out of the 32 participants, 16 teams will be directly invited through a new ‘VALORANT National Team Rankings’ system. This system will calculate individual player achievements in regional and international VALORANT Champions Tour events. Whilst the exact point system hasn’t been shared, points will be split equally across an organisation’s teammates who participated.
The ranking of a nation will be decided by accumulating the points of the top five players on the submitted national roster. The Esports World Cup Foundation has noted that the cut-off date for the national ranking is June 21st, 2026.
If a national team fails to secure a direct invite, 14 additional slots will be available through regional online qualifiers. In total, there will be seven regional qualifiers, all of which will feature double-elimination brackets. Every region — North America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and Oceania, MENA, and Asia — will qualify two nations each.
Interestingly, the Esports World Cup Foundation noted that 22 nations were represented at 2025’s organisation-focused Esports World Cup VALORANT event.
It has yet to be revealed how the two wildcard slots will be determined. Moreover, additional details and rules surrounding national team player selection are likely to be announced soon.
What is the Format?
Commencing on November 8th, the VALORANT 2026 ENC event will start with a 32-team round-robin Group Stage, with four groups of eight nations. All Group Stage matches will be best-of-one.
The top four nations from each group will then advance to a 16-team single-elimination Playoff bracket. Every Playoff match, aside from the Grand Final, will be best-of-three, with the champion crowned via a best-of-five series.
Esports Nations Cup Makes Its Debut
VALORANT becomes the latest title to join the Esports Nations Cup’s debut line-up. Earlier this year, the likes of Apex Legends, Dota 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Chess, among others, were also announced as participants.
In total, the competition will feature 16 titles, with the remaining games yet to be confirmed. The Esports Nations Cup will also have a $20m (~£14.4m) prize pool in addition to a $20m Esports Nations Cup Development Fund and a $5m (~£3.7m) amount distributed to organisations that allow players to compete.
Whilst the Esports Nations Cup is expected to have a revolving host city, its debut in Riyadh, where the Esports World Cup takes place, is likely to raise concerns from the community regarding the country’s human rights record. In the past, prominent VALORANT personalities have expressed frustrations over the game being selected as part of EWC last year.
