VCT drops Santiago Masters bomb in 2026 locations announcement

South America will play host to a Valorant Masters event for the first time, adding extra impetus to the first Major  of the 2026 Valorant Champions Tour. 

Riot Games made the bombshell announcement via X, when they announced the locations for the VCT in 2026, with it set to include Masters 1 in Santiago, Chile; Masters 2 in London, England; and the Champions in Shanghai, China. 

The Chile tournament will be the first time a Valorant Major has been played in South America and is a reflection of the growing popularity of the game in this part of the world 

Riot was even forced do deny there will be a VCT South America league coming in 2026, but the Santiago event is an acknowledgement that Valorant and esports is growing in South America. 

The second Valorant Masters event will be played in London, with this also the first time an international event of this status will been played in the United Kingdom. 

The 2026 Valorant Champions Tour will conclude in Shanghai, China, with the Champions event, with this having been previously announced by Riot. 

There will be several changes to the VCT Masters events in 2026, including the teams at the opening Santiago Masters being expanded from eight to 12, bringing it in-lnine with the Champions event.

This means three teams from each of America, EMEA (Europe, MIddle Easte and Africa), Pacific (Japan, Korea and India) and China will qualify. 

The 2025 Champions VCT event is currently being played with NRG the favourites after advancing through to the grand final via the top bracket.