VALORANT Champions Shanghai opens Groups Day 1 in Group C

VALORANT Champions Shanghai begins Groups Stage Day 1 on Thursday, 24 September 2026. Riot’s published Champions briefing sets the world championship window as 24 September through 18 October, with sixteen teams from Americas, China (CN), EMEA, and Pacific competing to be crowned the 2026 VALORANT World Champion. This wire covers the go-live schedule, format, groups, and viewer systems Riot has published. Completed Day 1 map scores are not included here — those wait for Riot’s finished match results.

The day is more than two best-of-threes. Riot’s Opening Day broadcast starts earlier than the first pistol. Groups Stage Pick’Ems powered by AWS lock about ten minutes after that first game begins. Watch-and-earn Drops and Shotcall sit on the same official broadcast path. The scoreboard story starts in Group C.

Day 1 schedule — Group C openers

Riot’s Everything You Need To Know post dates Groups Stage Day 1 to Thursday, 24 September. The official valorantesports.com schedule stamps two Day 1 start times, both best-of-three, both Group C openers:

• 24 September 2026, 09:00 UTC (10:00 BST / 17:00 CST Shanghai) — Team Liquid vs Paper Rex
• 24 September 2026, 12:00 UTC (13:00 BST / 20:00 CST Shanghai) — TYLOO GAMING vs G2 Esports

Those pairings and clocks come from Riot’s live tournament schedule on valorantesports.com, not from a third-party bracket blog. Until Riot publishes completed map scores, the lines above are the scheduled draw — not a finished scoreboard.

Tournament shape: Groups, then Playoffs

Champions Shanghai is split into two stages.

Groups Stage runs 24 September to 4 October. Riot’s briefing and the tournament overview agree on the systems:

• Sixteen teams enter; eight advance.
• Four GSL groups, each with one representative from each region.
• Lose two and a team is out.
• Every Groups match is best-of-three.
• The top two teams from each group advance to Playoffs.

Playoffs run 7 October to 18 October as a double-elimination bracket. One loss puts a team on the edge; two losses send them home. The overview sets series lengths for later wires: Playoffs games are best-of-three in general, while the lower finals and stage grand finals are best-of-five.

Riot’s published calendar also marks the dark days and finals weekend:

• Groups days: 24–27 Sep, then dark 28 Sep, then 29 Sep–4 Oct
• Dark: 5–6 Oct
• Playoffs days listed through 7–11 Oct, then dark 12–15 Oct
• 16 Oct — Playoffs Stage (Day 11)
• 17 Oct — Lower Bracket Final (Day 12)
• 18 Oct — Grand Final (Day 13)

Qualification into the field, per the overview: the top two teams from each territory’s Stage 2 Playoffs, plus the top two Championship Points earners from each territory.

The sixteen-team field

Riot’s Champions Shanghai overview lists the qualified codes by league:

• VCT Americas: NRG, G2, LOUD, 100T
• VCT EMEA: VIT, FUT, TL, KC
• VCT Pacific: PRX, NS, GE, T1
• VCT CN: JDG, XLG, TYL, EDG

Full org names in the Groups stage and schedule match those codes (for example TYLOO GAMING, EDWARD Gaming, NONGSHIM REDFORCE, JD GAMING).

Groups A–D (official Groups stage)

Riot’s Groups stage standings payload on valorantesports.com places the sixteen teams as follows. Placement rows stay TBD placeholders before results land; the membership is what Day 1 readers need:

• Group A: 100 Thieves (100T), T1, JD GAMING (JDG), FUT Esports (FUT)
• Group B: GLOBAL ESPORTS (GE), Team Vitality (VIT), LOUD, EDWARD Gaming (EDG)
• Group C: TYLOO GAMING (TYL), G2 Esports (G2), Team Liquid (TL), Paper Rex (PRX)
• Group D: Karmine Corp (KC), Xi Lai Gaming (XLG), NONGSHIM REDFORCE (NS), NRG

Day 1 is entirely a Group C open. The other three groups open across 25–27 September on the same two-slot daily clock (09:00 UTC and 12:00 UTC) in Riot’s schedule:

• 25 Sep — Group D: NONGSHIM REDFORCE vs NRG; Karmine Corp vs Xi Lai Gaming
• 26 Sep — Group B: GLOBAL ESPORTS vs Team Vitality; LOUD vs EDWARD Gaming
• 27 Sep — Group A: 100 Thieves vs T1; JD GAMING vs FUT Esports

Those later openers are schedule context for Day 1 readers, not completed results.

Opening Day broadcast — before the first bullet

Riot’s Opening Day post is explicit: Champions Shanghai starts before the first round. The published watch window is 24 September at 1:00am PDT (4:00pm CST) on official VALORANT channels. On the Europe/London clock that is 09:00 BST — one hour ahead of the first scheduled series at 10:00 BST.

Riot frames Opening Day as a city-wide package beyond a single stage, with segments at Pop Mart, Hai Di Lao, DOE, Artist Alley, the VALORANT Concept PC Bang, and on the streets of Shanghai. Named hosts and creators on the post: TenZ, Sacy, TcK, MeL, Loupiote, Spicyuuu, and SiuFatBB.

For fans in the building, Riot’s Jing’an Sports Center live-audience briefing publishes the local show clock that aligns to the first match: doors 3:30 PM, pre-show countdown 4:00 PM, pre-show 4:30 PM, show start 5:00 PM local time. Groups and early bracket play sit at Jing’an Sports Center; Finals Weekend moves to the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Pudong.

How to watch, Drops, and Shotcall

Riot’s Watch and Earn post (23 September 2026) and the Champions briefing point viewers at official VALORANT Esports channels, including Twitch at twitch.tv/valorant and YouTube at youtube.com/@ValorantEsports.

Drops published for the event:

• Title Prepared — watch a minimum of 30 minutes during Groups and Playoffs
• Spray Stamp of Approval — watch a minimum of 30 minutes during the Grand Final

Shotcall is Riot’s live Twitch extension for in-match predictions (maps, rounds, clutch moments). Watch and Earn lists Shotcall rewards on Twitch desktop via an official Riot broadcast:

• Title The Catch — earn 50 Shotcall points over Champions Shanghai
• Gun Buddy Crab Buddy — earn 300 points over the event
• Player Card Trophy — finish in the top 3% of any map during Champions Shanghai

The Everything You Need To Know post also notes a special Title among exclusive Drops for tuning into the live broadcast.

Pick’Ems powered by AWS — Groups window closes on Day 1

Patch Notes 13.05 told players Pick’Ems return for Champions Shanghai starting 10 September, with Group Stage access in-client and on the web, points for predicting advancing teams, extra points for exact placement, and rewards for participating — with picks due before Groups kickoff on 24 September.

The dedicated Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems post fills in the clocks:

Groups Stage Pick’Ems

• Picks open 10 September at 7:00 AM PT on the web and 8:00 AM PT in the VALORANT client
• Picks lock 24 September at approximately 2:10 AM PT, 10 minutes after the first game of Champions Shanghai begins

Playoffs Pick’Ems (later window, for readers locking Groups today)

• Picks open 4 October once the Draw Show is complete and Playoffs matchups are confirmed
• Picks lock 7 October at approximately 2:10 AM PT, 10 minutes after the first Playoffs game begins

Rewards (cumulative):

• Participation: “Calculated” Title
• Top 50%: Stone of Heaven Gun Buddy
• Top 20%: Pick’Ems Master: Stone of Heaven Gun Buddy
• Perfect picks: “100%” Title

Champions Shanghai also brings Pick’Ems to Riot Mobile for the first time. Players can lock and track picks in the VALORANT client, Riot Mobile, or at valorantesports.com/pickems.

On the Europe/London clock, that Groups lock near 2:10 AM PT lines up with roughly 10:10 BST — shortly after the Liquid–Paper Rex start. If the bracket still needs a submission, the window is the opening series, not the nightcap.

MVP

Riot says there will be one Champions Shanghai MVP, decided by talent, co-streamers, and media after the final — an event system, not a Day 1 prediction. Riot has not published an official prize-pool total or a Champions map-pool / veto sheet in the Day 1 primaries linked below; those figures stay out of this piece until Riot posts them.

Why Day 1 matters

Groups Day 1 is the first double-elimination pressure of the world championship: two best-of-threes in Group C, with Liquid, Paper Rex, TYLOO GAMING, and G2 Esports all on the clock before the rest of the field opens. The broadcast day starts an hour earlier with Opening Day. Pick’Ems lock ten minutes after the first game. Map scores belong in a follow-up once Riot publishes them.