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What is the Dota 2 TI? Format, Dates and Schedule Explained

Sports Writer

Publish Date: 12/08/2026

The International is, by far, the biggest competitive Dota 2 tournament out there right now. Taking place throughout August, it rapidly has become one of the most popular and interesting eSports tournaments to follow, with plenty of the best Dota 2 teams in play this season.

In this review, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about the Dota 2 TI this year. We’ll cover the format on how the tournament works, what the schedule will look like and also what dates you need to look out for the biggest games happening. Let’s dive right into it.

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Dota 2 TI: How the 2026 Schedule will Work

The TI happens every year, with the overall format usually staying the same, from qualifiers all the way to the playoffs and the finals. But, there are some slight changes in how the tournament is structured and scheduled this year, so we covered everything you need to know about the TI in our step by step guide below.

1️⃣ Step - Direct Invites

First off, every TI will start off with direct invitations to the best teams, with the highest performing Dota 2 teams, or simply prestige team, receiving the direct invitations before anyone else does. Valve will review the top teams in 2026, who the highest performers are and who deserves a direct invite, and invite those teams into the tournament.

These invites are usually only handed out to the top six to eight teams, which allows these top performing teams to bypass qualification and automatically enter the group stage. This step usually happens around May, around three months before the event starts.

2️⃣ Step - Open Qualifiers

Once those invites have been accepted, several spots are decided with open qualifier games. There are sixteen spots in total in the TI, so once the initial invites are sent out, it’s usually six to eight spots that teams are contending for. These qualifiers are open in every sense of the word: you do not need to be an established eSports team to enter.

You can form a team tomorrow, and enter into these open qualifiers! Interestingly enough, you do see some makeshift teams getting far in these tournaments, as many promising players will join up in order to qualify. The qualifiers are normally held around June.

3️⃣ Step - Closed Qualifiers

A much more competitive qualifying stage, this is where competitive, S Tier Dota 2 teams battle it out in order to qualify for the TI. The competition in these qualifying brackets is usually very fierce, and usually weeds out many of the makeshift, or unprepared teams that managed to get past the open qualfiers.

Similarly, many of the S-Tier teams who are promising can bypass the open qualifiers, and compete directly in the closed qualifiers. These closed qualifiers can get extremely competitive, and usually only a handful of teams actually make it out and qualify for the TI. These closed qualifiers also take place in June, a few weeks after the open qualifiers.

4️⃣ Step - The International Begins

Now, the teams are set, the groups are put together and the brackets are ready to go. The TI will kick off with the group stage, where three to four teams are placed in separate groups, and all battle it out against each other for points. These games are also critical to the tournament stage, as many of the bottom teams in the groups can be directly eliminated from the competition. Normally, the top two performing teams from the four groups will advance to the elimination segment of the tournament.

5️⃣ Step - The International Playoffs

Now, we are down to eight teams, who compete in the playoffs. This is a double elimination style tournament: which means a player must lose two games in order to be eliminated.

Teams who win will move to the winners bracket, meanwhile teams that lose will be moved to the losers bracket. Eventually, when it comes down to two, you will be able to see who prevails, who wins the International and who can lfit that prized Aegis trophy.

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The TI 15: The Current Format

The 2026 edition of the TI is the 15th edition of this prestigious tournament, and we already in the midst of the group stage, which has started on August 13th. Here is the journey that we, and many of the teams competing in the tournament, have went on to get to this point:

Direct Invites

The direct invitations to the TI 15 were announced on May 26th, with seven teams getting the nod this year. Those teams are:

	Team Liquid
	Team Falcons
	Aurora Gaming
	1win Team
	Xtreme Gaming
	BetBoom Team
	Team Yandex

So the qualifiers this year ultimately determined nine spots in the tournament, which led to some very competitive qualifying rounds.

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The Qualifying Rounds

The qualifiers this year were held throughout June, as usual, with the regions having slightly different schedules. Here’s how the regions were broken down, and what spots were in play for hopeful teams:

Europe	4 spots
China	2 spots
Southeast Asia	1 spot
South America	1 spot
North America	1 spot

The qualifiers are still available to watch back on Twitch, and these grassroots teams put in some phenomenal performances. The teams that qualified when the dust settled were:

Team Spirit
PARAVISION
HULIGANI
Nigma Galaxy
Vici Gaming
Team Resilience
OG
LGD Gaming
GamerLegion

So, the 16 teams competing in the TI 15 were set.

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The International Is Underway

The group stages are currently underway, starting on August 13th and ending on the 16th. A number of different methods are in play in order to decide the highest and lowest performing teams, such as a Swiss Stage (every competitor plays against each other to see who earns the most points), and an elimination round to determine the top eight teams.

By the end of the group stage, the top eight teams will advance to the playoffs.

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The Dota 2 TI 15 Playoffs

The TI 15 playoffs are scheduled to take place between August 20th and 23rd, with the four day break scheduled between the group stage and playoffs allowing teams to strategise as the Oriental Sports Center opens its doors for fans to watch the playoffs for themselves.

The teams will then compete in their double elimination bracket, with the eventual winner being decided on Sunday, August the 23rd.