TI 2026 group stage format — Swiss-system bracket, opening round 1 pairings, 16 teams
The International 2026 group draw concluded in Shanghai. The 16 teams will play a Swiss-system bracket over 4 days (Aug 13-16). Here are the opening round 1 pairings, the full 16-team field, and the qualification paths.
TI 2026 group stage — the bracket is set
The International 2026 group stage begins Aug 13 at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai. The 16 teams will play a Swiss-system bracket over 4 days (Aug 13-16), with the top 8 teams advancing to the playoffs (Aug 20-23).
How the Swiss bracket works
There are no pre-assigned groups. The bracket is reshuffled after each round so teams with the same W-L record play each other. Every match is a best-of-3 series.
- 5 rounds total (Aug 13-15)
- Aug 16 is the Elimination Round for the 3-2 and 2-3 teams (5 Bo3 matches)
- 3 wins → qualified for the upper bracket of the playoffs
- 3 losses → eliminated
- 2-2 after Round 4 → Aug 16 Elimination Round
Qualification paths:
- 3 teams (4-0 or 4-1 records) qualify directly for the playoffs after Round 5
- 10 teams (3-2 and 2-3 records) play the Aug 16 Elimination Round for the final 5 playoff slots
- 3 teams (1-4 and 0-4 records) are eliminated
Opening round 1 pairings (Aug 13, 02:00 + 05:00 UTC)
| Time (UTC) | Match 1 | vs | Match 2 | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02:00 | Team Falcons | vs | LGD Gaming | Bo3 |
| 02:00 | HULIGANI | vs | Iron Wing | Bo3 |
| 02:00 | BoomBoys | vs | OG | Bo3 |
| 02:00 | TEAM VISION | vs | Team Resilience | Bo3 |
| 05:00 | Team Spirit | vs | Xtreme Gaming | Bo3 |
| 05:00 | Team Liquid | vs | Vici Gaming | Bo3 |
| 05:00 | Aurora Gaming | vs | GamerLegion | Bo3 |
| 05:00 | Team Yandex | vs | Iron Wing | Bo3 |
The Round 1 matchups are seeded by the 2025-2026 DPC standings. The 4 marquee matchups on Day 1:
- Team Spirit vs Xtreme Gaming (05:00) — the two-time TI champion's roster against the only Chinese direct invite. Both teams went 1-0 on Day 1.
- Team Falcons vs LGD Gaming (02:00) — the defending TI 2025 champion against the South American open-qualifier team. Falcons won 2-1 in a 3-game series.
- TEAM VISION vs Team Resilience (02:00) — the EWC 2026 champion against the Chinese open-qualifier team. VISION won 2-1 in a 3-game series.
- Iron Wing vs HULIGANI (02:00) — the ex-Tundra Esports roster against the EU qualifier team. Iron Wing won 2-0 in a clean sweep.
The full 16-team field
Direct invites (7) — based on 2025-2026 DPC standings:
- Team Falcons (EU) — TI 2024 + TI 2025 champion
- Team Liquid (EU) — TI 2025 runner-up
- Iron Wing (EU) — ex-Tundra Esports (Pure, bzm, 33, Ari, Whitemon)
- Xtreme Gaming (China) — TI 2025 3rd-4th
- BoomBoys (CIS) — BetBoom Team's broadcast tag
- Aurora Gaming (CIS)
- Team Yandex (CIS)
Regional qualifiers (9):
- Team Spirit (EU) — TI 2021 + TI 2023 champion
- TEAM VISION (EU) — PARIVISION's broadcast tag, EWC 2026 champion
- Nigma Galaxy (EU)
- HULIGANI (EU) — L1GA TEAM's broadcast tag
- Vici Gaming (China)
- Team Resilience (China)
- OG (SEA) — first TI since 2022
- GamerLegion (NA)
- LGD Gaming (SA)
Rebranded teams (4) — Valve prohibits gambling sponsors on the TI broadcast. 4 teams play under rebranded tags:
- Iron Wing = 1w Team (ex-Tundra Esports)
- BoomBoys = BetBoom Team
- TEAM VISION = PARIVISION
- HULIGANI = L1GA TEAM
The rosters and form are unchanged — only the broadcast tag is different.
The format explained
The 2026 group stage format is the same Swiss-system that Valve has used since 2022:
- Round 1 (Aug 13, 02:00 + 05:00 UTC): 8 matches, all 0-0 teams paired
- Round 2 (Aug 13, 08:00 UTC): 8 matches, 1-0 vs 1-0 and 0-1 vs 0-1
- Round 3 (Aug 14, 05:00 UTC): 8 matches, 2-0 vs 2-0, 1-1 vs 1-1, 0-2 vs 0-2
- Round 4 (Aug 15, 02:00 + 05:00 UTC): 8 matches, 3-0 advancement, 2-1, 1-2, 0-3 elimination
- Round 5 (Aug 15, 08:00 UTC): 7 matches, 3-1 advancement, 2-2, 1-3 elimination
The 3 storylines to watch on Day 1
1. The 4 marquee Round 1 matchups. Spirit vs XG, Falcons vs LGD, VISION vs Resilience, and Iron Wing vs HULIGANI are the four Day 1 series with the most storyline weight. The winners take control of the 2-0 bracket on Day 2.
2. The Chinese direct invite's test. Xtreme Gaming is the only Chinese direct invite. The XG vs Spirit matchup at 05:00 is the team's first real test. XG's mid (Xm) and carry (Ame) are the strongest Chinese duo since Maybe + BurNIng in 2014.
3. The ex-Tundra story. Iron Wing is the ex-Tundra Esports roster (Pure, bzm, 33, Ari, Whitemon) playing under the broadcast tag. 33 (Neta Shapira) is going for his third Aegis of Champions. The team's Day 1 2-0 over HULIGANI was the cleanest sweep of the day.
How to watch
- English stream: Twitch.tv/dota2ti and YouTube.com/dota2
- Chinese stream: Douyu (channel 999) and Bilibili (channel 7738320)
- Russian stream: Twitch.tv/dota2ti_ru
- Spanish stream: Twitch.tv/dota2ti_es
All matches are on patch 7.41d. Regional streams in 8+ languages. Free, no paywall.
See our Dota 2 hub for the full TI 2026 schedule, team previews, and meta analysis.
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