© 2026 Riot Games. All Rights Reserved.
© 2026 Riot Games. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome to the inaugural season of the Knights Arena VALORANT Challengers League. Kicking off on Wednesday, February 1, 12 teams begin the journey towards securing their spot in the VCT Americas Ascension Tournament and potential promotion into the International League.
Before they can get there, the teams need to get through the gauntlet of the Challengers League. The season is broken down into four parts: two Splits, a Mid-Season Tournament, and the Challengers Playoffs.
Group A
Group B
Teams will compete to earn Challengers points which will determine who make the end of season Challengers League NA playoffs.
There are a couple ways to earn Challengers Points:
Split One
Two groups of six will compete in a five-week round-robin BO3 competition.
At the end of the five-week round robin, the two groups are combined to establish standings from 1st - 12th place. If teams are tied in record, round differential will be used as the tie breaker. Challenger Points will be distributed based on the standings.
Split Two
Split Two will follow the same format as Split One.
Based on Challengers Points from Split One, teams entering Split Two are re-seeded and re-drawn into two new groups of six. Groups will have no more than three of the same teams from the same group during Split One. Once the draw reaches that limit, the remaining teams will be automatically placed in the opposite group.
As teams fight their way for the playoffs, Challengers Points are increased slightly to give teams ample opportunities to make up ground on the teams ahead of them or extend the gap between the top teams and the also-rans.
The Mid-Season Tournament will be a BO3, double-elimination bracket where the top 8 teams from Split 1 will compete for one of 4 spots that offer the chance to earn additional Challenger Points and a share of the $30,000 prize pool.
The prize pool of $30,000 USD will be distributed to the Top 8 competitors of the Mid-Season Tournament based on their tournament placement:
The top 8 teams in Challenger Points earned throughout the season will qualify for the Challenger Playoffs, getting the opportunity to battle it out in a BO3 double elimination bracket for their piece of the $50,000 prize pool. The two teams who make the championship round in the Challenger Playoffs will earn a spot in the Ascension Tournament, where they’ll represent North America and have the opportunity to qualify for the International League in 2024.
A prize pool of $50,000 USD will be distributed to the Top 8 competitors of the Challenger Playoffs, according to the following tournament placement:
Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/VALORANT_NorthAmerica
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@VALORANTChallengersAmericas
Keep the conversation going all season long by following Knights Arena on Twitter @KnightsArena. Check nacl.knightsarena.com for everything Challengers NA related!
BY VALORANT Esports Staff