Dota 2 The International 2025 – Direct Invites, Qualifiers and Schedule Overview

As expected, Valve finally gave us more information about The International 2025 in terms of invites, regional qualifiers, and schedule. There is a lot to talk about here, so let’s go over all of the key information you need to know. 

The International 2025 Direct Invites & Regional Qualifiers

We are happy that Valve finally announced all the teams that received a direct invitation to The International 2025. We have a total of 8 direct invites that will go to Hamburg, Germany:

• Team Liquid
• PARIVISION
• BetBoom Team
• Team Tidebound
• Tundra Esports
• Gaimin Gladiators
• Team Spirit
• Team Falcons

Alongside the directly invited teams, The International 2025 will also have 8 other teams joining them via the regional qualifiers. According to the information, the TI 2025’s open qualifiers will begin from May 31 until June 3 (June 2-5 for China). After that, we will have access to the Regional Qualifier. Everyone can participate in the Open Qualifiers, as long as the player is in good standing with the Dota competitive community.

According to the information, Western Europe and Southeast Asia will have two spots for TI 2025 via the regional qualifiers. This means that Eastern Europe, China, South America, and North America will only have one slot. 

Here’s a list of  the regions and the teams we will have access to:

• Eastern Europe – Aurora Gaming, NAVI Junior, Natus Vincere, One Move, L1GA Team, Virtus.Pro and 4 teams from the Open Qualifiers.
• South America – HEROIC, OG.LATAM, Edge, Team Den, and 6 teams from the Open Qualifiers.
• North America – Shopify Rebellion, Wildcard, and 6 teams from the Open Qualifiers.
• China – Xtreme Gaming, Yakult Brothers, and six teams from the Open Qualifiers.
• Southeast Asia – TALON, The MongolZ, Trailer Park Boys, BOOM Esports, Execration, Ivory and 4 teams from the Open Qualifiers.
• Western Europe – MOUZ, OG, Nigma Galaxy, AVULUS, and 6 teams from the Open Qualifiers.

The International 2025 – The Main Event

Once we know the names of all Dota 2 teams that will attend The International 2025, it is time to focus on one of the biggest events of the year. The tournament itself will take place between September 4-14 in Hamburg, Germany. As some of you may remember, Germany was the first country to host The International in 2011, an event that featured a $1M prize pool (this was insane back then).

TI 2025 will have two phases – Road to The International and The International itself. The Group Stage will have a new Swiss-format group stage, as well as an elimination round, whereas TI itself will have Playoffs.

The Group Stage and the Special Elimination Round at TI 2025 will take place from September 4-6. All 16 teams will fight in the Group Stage, and the latter will consist of 5 rounds, where we will see Bo3 matches. Each team has to win at least 4 series to advance to the Playoffs and losing 4 matches means that the given team will be eliminated. Once the TI 2025 Group Stage is over, 3 of the teams will go to the Playoffs, whereas the other three will be eliminated.

The remaining Dota 2 teams (10 of them) will compete in the Special Elimination Round, which will have high and low seeds. The winners will advance to the Playoffs, whereas the losers will head home.

Once this is over, we will have access to The International itself, which will have 8 teams. The Playoffs will take place between September 11-14 and will have a classic double-elimination bracket. The only difference from most other events is that all teams will start from the Upper Bracket.

Similar to all other TIs, this one will have Bo3 matches with a Bo5 Grand Final. Don’t forget to follow Blix.gg if you need more information.