VCT 2026 China Kickoff betting tips – Thursday, January 22

VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) 2026 China Stage 1 opens its doors on Thursday, January 22, with the first two fixtures of the new season. The action begins with Trace Esports facing off against Wolves Esports, followed by a clash between FunPlus Phoenix and TYLOO.

With four strong teams clashing, Thursday’s slate promises a pair of exciting fixtures no esports fan should miss, offering plenty of VALORANT betting opportunities to explore.

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  Fast Payouts

TRACE ESPORTS vs WOLVES ESPORTS

According to the top VALORANT betting sites, this game promises to be competitive. Wolves Esports are priced as slight favourites; however, with the improvements Trace Esports have made, they could cause an upset.

Trace have added two new players for the 2026 season, Ran “Viva” Lifan from XLG and Delbert “deLb” Tanoto, who last played on All Gamers. Wolves Esports, on the other side, have added four players, keeping only Liu “Spring” Chun-ting and Pong “SiuFatBB” Ka-hei.

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  The bookies' bookie

Both teams are bound to have a slower start; however, Trace seem to have made more improvements. By keeping Song “FengF” Xuefeng, Trace have retained a lot of firepower, and Viva had a good showing at Shanghai Esports Masters early into his stint with the team.

Trace arguably should not be viewed as underdogs. At even money, they’re hard to pass on.

FUNPLUS PHOENIX vs TYLOO

FunPlus Phoenix are expected to defeat TYLOO on Thursday, and that sounds fair, as TYLOO were not great in 2025 and they’ve hardly made any roster changes for this season.

FunPlus Phoenix haven’t had the most successful run though the last season, but they picked up the pace in the offseason and have added two players – Natchaphon “sScary” Matarat and Ou “Setrod” Tai-keng.

Setrod hasn’t featured in the highest-tier VALORANT scene until November, but he looked more than capable of hanging with VCT players. Meanwhile, sScary was a bit of an enigma as he wasn’t competing last season. However, with five years of prior experience in the VALORANT scene, the 26-year-old quickly found his rhythm and played well in the offseason.

FunPlus Phoenix are unlikely to compete for the VCT China trophy. But they should handle TYLOO.