Riot Games has announced format changes to VCT Ascension EMEA 2025, including an expansion from six to eight Challengers teams.
The news was revealed by VALORANT’s Esports Product Manager Tomek Borowka on August 30th, one day ahead of the VCT EMEA Stage 2 finals.
VCT Ascension is the most important annual tournament for VALORANT Challengers teams, as its winner earns a one-year contract in the game’s tier-one circuit, the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT).
Promoted Ascension teams must then either qualify for VALORANT Champions to maintain their VCT slot for another year or reach the regional VCT Stage 2 Playoffs to defend their tier-one rights at the next Ascension tournament.
Both previous EMEA Ascension teams, Gentle Mates and Apeks, have failed to achieve these milestones and have therefore been directly relegated to the region’s Challengers circuit. As a result, this year’s Ascension event will crown two winners to ascend to the 2026 VCT EMEA league.
A New VCT EMEA Ascension 2025 Format
Last weekend, Tomek Borowka announced on his personal social media that the double VCT EMEA promotion this year would also lead to an updated format for the event.
“I am excited to share that this year’s Ascension will now feature 8 teams instead of 6,” shared the Riot representative.
“The spotlight will be on the matches that decide who secures a place in VCT EMEA 2026 – the Ascension games. Both Ascension games matches will be played live on stage in front of fans – so instead of one final, we’ll have two.”
This means that, in addition to BBL PCIFIC, Enterprise Esports, Twisted Minds and Team RA’AD, four teams can still qualify for the 2025 Ascension tournament via regional Ascension Points or by winning Challengers EMEA Stage 3.
The final regional Challengers competition will kick off today at 4 PM BST and conclude on September 9th.
According to the new format, Ascension 2025 will also commence one day earlier and now take place from October 18th-26th. The event will feature two double-elimination (GSL) groups of four contestants, respectively.
The top two teams from each group will then advance to the Playoffs, which will include two best-of-five (BO5) Ascension finals. All prior matches will be played as best-of-threes (BO3s).
