As we get ready for the final Challengers split of our 2024 season to kick off, we wanted to look ahead to next year and share some updates about our Challengers 2025 tournament format and schedule.
ACADEMY TEAMS
Challengers play an important role in talent development for the VCT Pacific league. We’ve already seen several players from the Challengers ecosystem move up to the international league, such as Free1ng, Hyunmin, Jitboys and WildOreoo.
We want to continue deepening this talent development pipeline. So starting next year we are going to incorporate academy teams into our Challengers leagues across APAC.
This change will allow our partnered teams to scout, test and develop new talent for their teams. At the same time, this also gives up-and-coming stars more opportunities to join the ranks of partnered organizations.
However, it remains our intention to continue giving new teams a chance to join VCT Pacific. So while academy teams can participate in Challengers, they will not be able to qualify for Ascension Pacific.
A total of 9 partnered teams have opted to field academy teams in their respective regional leagues. These teams include:
Challengers Korea - DRX, Gen.G, T1
Challengers Japan - Zeta Division, DFM
Challengers Southeast Asia - RRQ, Talon, Team Secret
Challengers South Asia - Global Esports
The 9 partnered teams who have opted to field an academy team will receive a direct slot in their respective Challengers league in 2025.
2025 APAC CALENDAR OVERVIEW
Challengers 2025 will be composed of 3 splits leading into Ascension.
We will continue to connect Premier teams into our ecosystem through promo relegations after each split.
Academy teams will play alongside other qualified Challengers and Premier teams in all three splits and will also be exempted from the usual promo relegation cycles for 2025. However, they will not be eligible for Ascension Pacific.
More details about each Challenger league will be shared by our partners in each region closer to the date.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the final split of 2024 and join us in cheering for the teams who are competing for qualification to Split 1 of Challengers 2025 next year.
