Valve has published information about the teams and the group stage of The International 2026 on the official Dota 2 website

Valve has added the list of participants for The International 2026 and information about the tournament to the official Dota 2 website.
In the “Esports” section, the developers have published team logos in The International 2026 style—embroidered—and outlined the rules for the group stage. As was the case last year, the group stage will follow the Swiss system, and team rankings will be determined based on the following statistics, with the weight of each criterion depending on its position in the list:
- 1 — Number of matches won;
- 2 — Number of matches lost;
- 3 — Number of matches won by the opponent the team faced;
- 4 — Winning percentage;
- 5 — Win percentage of the opponent the team faced;
- 6 — Average match duration; the shorter, the better;
- 7 — Coin toss.
The International 2026 will take place in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, from August 13 to 23. The prize pool for the year’s main tournament typically depends on sales of team kits and the Compendium, and the initial prize pool was $1,600,000.
Photo: Valve.


