The International 2026’s venue and schedule have finally been announced. After a post on February 12, 2026, it became clear that the 15th Anniversary of The International will take place between August 20-23 at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China. As for the tournament’s qualifiers, they will take place in June.
TI 2026 schedule
The International 2026 was first announced last year during TI 2025. People were unsure whether there would be any format changes, but it seems this will not be the case. TI 2026 will feature 16 teams that will receive their slots following qualifiers and direct invitations.
Speaking of TI 2026 qualifiers, the Open Qualifiers will take place from June 9 – 12, while the Regional Qualifiers will run from June 15 – 28.
Once August arrives, The International 2026 will have two phases – Road to The International and The International main event. The first one will be a Swiss-style Group Stage taking place between August 13-16. All 16 teams will be a part of it, and in the end, only 8 will survive. These 8 will move to The International, which will be between August 20 – 23.
What To Expect at The International 2026
An interesting fact about TI 2026 is that it will be the second such tournament in one of China’s biggest cities. TI 2019 also took place there, and it was then that OG won the competition for the second time.
China has always been an interesting place when it comes to Dota 2. Even though some of the top teams did not have the best results in the last couple of years, 2025 was a good year for local clubs. After all, Xtreme Gaming finished 2nd at last year’s TI. Fans will be eager to see whether the home-crowd advantage can affect the Chinese teams’ performance.
