Valorant added to inaugural Esports Nations Cup

The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) announced that 32 teams will compete in a Valorant competition at the inaugural Esports Nations Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from Nov. 8-15.

Valorant brings the number of titles in the event to 16.

Five-player teams from 32 nations will compete across a group stage and the playoffs, concluding with a best-of-five grand final.

The first stage will see all 32 teams competing in a round-robin group stage consisting of four groups of eight teams playing best-of-one matches. The top four teams from each group will advance to the 16-team single-elimination playoff bracket that will be best-of-three until the grand final.

The top 16 teams will be directly invited based on the newly-created Valorant National Team Rankings. Another 14 teams will be determined through regional online qualifiers, with the final two teams coming from wild-card slots.

The National Team Rankings will take into account regional and international competitions, with points equally distributed across all club teammates who participate. The national ranking will accumulate the points of the top five players on the submitted national roster, with a cut-off date of June 21.

The regional qualifiers will take place June 26-28, and consist of double-elimination brackets. They will be hosted in the following regions:

--North America (2 slots)

--South America (2)

--Western Europe (2)

--Easter Europe (2)

--Middle East + North Africa (2)

--Asia (2)

--Southeast Asia + Oceania (2)

The addition of the title to the Esports Nation Cup follows Valorant's EWC debut in 2025. Team Heretics came from 2-0 behind to beat Fnatic in the best-of-five final.

--Field Level Media