Challengers 2025 Calendar
As the year comes to a close, we want to share some initial details about the 2025 Challengers Season. Next season we want to continue deepening the connection between Challengers and all parts of the VCT ecosystem. Challenger Leagues are an essential tier of competition where up-and-coming players can hone their skills and build the recognition of their talents. Similar to 2024, Challengers will span the entire year with competition kicking off in January, culminating in Ascension in October, and concluding in December with Challengers and Premier tournaments.
To better align the Challengers calendar with the year round format, we are introducing another stage of regular season competition prior to Ascension. This will increase the quantity of competition, further reduce the amount of downtime during the year, and provide additional opportunities for promotion. We saw a great amount of success with the increased promotion opportunities in 2024 with teams like Sin Prisa and PACIFIC Esports rising to the top of Challengers in a short period of time after their Premier runs. We will keep the two promotion qualifiers during the regular season to give teams the chance to go from Premier into the VCT within the context of a single year. Keep an eye out for additional information about your region’s Challenger League as formats and promotion timings may vary depending on the Challenger League.
Ascension: Performance-Based Promotion and Relegation
For 2025, we made changes to Ascension where teams who earned promotion can defend or extend their stay in the VCT based on performance. Ascension winners will be judged on their performance across the entire year of the International League, falling into one of the three categories:
Extend: If an Ascension team makes it to Champions (top 4 in IL), they will extend their term for another year. If both Ascension teams make it to Champions, the team with the best performance at the tournament will stay while the other team will have the option to compete at Ascension for their spot.
Fight: If an Ascension team finishes top 8 in the IL, they will earn a chance to defend their spot. They will need to play in Ascension against the upcoming Challengers teams to see if they can re-earn their spot in the International League or fall back to Challengers.
Relegate: If a team fails to make it to Stage 2 Playoffs (bottom 4 in IL), they will relegate back down to their respective Challenger League. If both Ascension teams are relegated, we will bring up two new teams to give them a shot at dethroning the best teams.
Due to the changes, Ascension formats are going to be adjusted to account for multiple scenarios, such as both Ascension teams relegating and needing to bring two new CL teams to the event. We are giving regional leagues more flexibility to create unique formats that best fit their respective needs, while making sure they continue to connect to Premier and Ascension. Leagues will be announcing their competition formats and information on their Ascension tournaments later on in 2025.
Partner Academy Teams
We recently announced that in 2025 partner teams are able to run Academy teams in Challengers to help develop new talent for their rosters and provide more opportunities for players. While Academy teams will not be eligible to qualify for Ascension, we are excited to increase support for the Challengers ecosystem. Keep an eye out for up and coming players on the below Academy teams across the globe!
Premier & Path to Pro
Since the integration of Premier with Challengers at the beginning of 2024, multiple teams who started in Premier were able to break into Challengers and eventually Ascension. (PCIFIC Esports in EMEA and Riddle Order in Pacific) We also had the standout example of Sin Prisa, who made history as the first Premier team to qualify for the International Leagues! If you want to learn how to make it into the International League and perhaps onto the VCT Champs stage, be sure to check out more about Sin Prisa’s journey here!
Earlier this year, we announced the Invite division which represents the highest level of Premier. Unlike Contender, the only way to make it into the Invite division is to win Contender in your Premier zone. Premier zones connect to Challenger Leagues, creating a seamless path for players from in-game competition to the VCT.
In 2025 this path will remain in place and every Act will allow top Premier teams to earn promotion into Challengers. However, due to Challenger Seasons being twice as long as each Premier Season, teams from Premier will be brought up into Challengers every two Acts. If a team wins an Act that does not immediately coincide with the start of a Challengers League, they will be promoted during the following Act. This means that if you win Episode 9 Act 3 of Premier you may have to wait until the conclusion of Episode 10 Act 1 for your opportunity to play into Challengers. Rest easy though, no matter when you jump into Premier you will have a path to Challengers.
Your feedback has been invaluable in helping us improve the Path to Pro, as we have worked to connect Premier into Challengers. We know that some players have had issues with getting the answers on where and how to play in regards to their specific regions. To address these issues, make sure you write into our Player Support team. By filing an official ticket, we can ensure that your questions get escalated quickly to the Premier team and answered correctly, so you and your team can begin your journey to Challengers.
Worldwide there is a clear progression from Premier, through Challengers, into the International Leagues, and potentially onto the Champions stage. To start your journey, check your Premier gamepod and mapping to Challenger Leagues. You will need to check your regional Challenger Leagues residency requirements to ensure that you and your team are eligible to ascend to that Challenger League.
