The International is the most important Dota 2 championship of the year, featuring the highest prize pool across all other tournaments. But that hasn’t been the case since Valve replaced the battle pass with the compendium for crowd-funding TI’s prize pool. Nevertheless, the annual extravaganza still maintains its hype and the respect from winning such a prestigious tournament.
In 2025, The International returns to Germany for the first time since the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2011. The inaugural version of TI, held at GamesCom in Cologne, Germany, featured the highest prize pool across all esports at that time. The tournament went on to set several records, securing the top seven spots for the highest prize pool for a single event, a record that still stands today.
Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming TI 2025.
Dota 2 TI 2025 format and teams
Similar to last year’s format, TI 2025 will be split into three sections, but the format will differ from 2024’s group stage, followed by the seeding deciders. Instead, this year will feature a Swiss stage to kick things off, followed by an elimination phase, after which eight teams will make their way into the main event.
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Swiss Bracket
- All 16 teams will play five rounds of best-of-three head-to-head matches. The first round will feature random seeding, while every subsequent round will be seeded based on the same win-loss record.
- The top three teams with four wins each will advance directly to the main event of TI, while the bottom three teams with four losses each will be eliminated from the tournament. The remaining 10 teams placed from fourth to 13th will move over to the elimination round.
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Elimination Round
- The highest-rated teams will face off against the respective lowest-rated teams from the Swiss bracket. The team that finished fourth during the Swiss bracket will face off against the team that finished 13th in the same round.
- The matches in this round will be elimination matches, and the losing teams will bid farewell to TI, while the winning teams will progress to the main event.
- A total of five best-of-threes will be played in this round, meaning that five teams will be eliminated while five teams progress to the main stage to make up the final eight.
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Main event
- Double-elimination bracket featuring best-of-threes.
- Losing teams from the upper bracket will drop into the lower bracket. Losing in the lower bracket will lead to elimination from the tournament.
- The grand final will be a best-of-five.
Valve recently announced the names of the invited teams for TI14. A total of eight teams have been invited for the championship, while the remaining eight teams will have to make their way through the regional qualifiers. Two slots have been allotted to Western Europe and Southeast Asia, while the four other regions (Eastern Europe, North America, South America, and China) have been given one slot each for the regional qualifiers.
Here’s the full list of teams that are participating in TI14:
| Team | Roster | Qualification method |
|---|---|---|
| Team Liquid | miCKe, Nisha, SabeRLight, Boxi, Insania | Invitation |
| PARIVISION | Satanic, No[o]ne, DM, 9Class, Dukalis | Invitation |
| BetBoom Team | Pure, gpk~, MieRo`, Save-, Kataomi | Invitation |
| Team Tidebound | shiro, NothingToSay, Bach, planet, y` | Invitation |
| Yakutou Brothers | flyfly, Emo, Beyond, BoBoKa, Oli | Invitation |
| Team Spirit | Yatoro, Larl, Collapse, rue, Miposhka | Invitation |
| Team Falcons | skiter, Malr1ne, ATF, Cr1t-, Sneyking | Invitation |
| Tundra Esports | Crystallis, bzm, 33, Saksa, Whitemon | Invitation |
| NAVI Junior | gotthejuice, Niku, pma, Zayac, Riddys | Regional Qualifiers – Western Europe |
| Nigma Galaxy | Ghost, SumaiL, No!ob, Omar, GH | Regional Qualifiers – Western Europe |
| Team Nemesis | Akashi, Mac, Raven, Jing, Erice | Regional Qualifiers – Southeast Asia |
| BOOM Esports | JaCkky, Armel, Jabz, TIMS, Jaunuel | Regional Qualifiers – Southeast Asia |
| Aurora Gaming | Nightfall, kiyotaka, TORONTOTOKYO, Mira, panto | Regional Qualifiers – Eastern Europe |
| Xtreme Gaming | Ame, Xm, Xxs, XinQ, poloson | Regional Qualifiers – China |
| HEROIC | Yuma, 4nalog, Wisper, Scofield, KJ | Regional Qualifiers – South America |
| Wildcard | Yamsun, RCY, Fayde, Bignum, Speeed | Regional Qualifiers – Eastern Europe |
Dota 2 TI 2025 schedule
Here’s the full schedule including the results for The International 2025:
- The Road to The International (Swiss stage and elimination round): Sept. 4 to 7, 2025
- The International (Main event): Sept. 11 to 14, 2025
You can purchase tickets for the main event and attend the matches live at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg, Germany.
Apart from that, the closed regional qualifiers for TI14 are underway now, and here’s the schedule for each of the regions:
- Eastern Europe: June 4 to 8
- South America: June 4 to 8
- North America: June 9 to 12
- China: June 9 to 12
- Southeast Asia: June 13 to 17
- Western Europe: June 13 to 17
You can also find a full list of all the matches in our hub of all the qualified teams for The International.
Road to The International – Swiss stage
Round 1 (Sept. 4)
| Match | Time (CDT) |
|---|---|
| Aurora Gaming 0-2 Xtreme Gaming | 3am |
| Team Spirit 2-0 Wildcard | 3am |
| Team Falcons 2-1 Nemesis | 3am |
| Tundra Esports 2-1 Yakutou Brothers | 3am |
| Team Liquid 2-1 BOOM Esports | 6am |
| PARIVISION 2-0 HEROIC | 6am |
| Nigma Galaxy 2-1 BetBoom Team | 6am |
| Team Tidebound 2-1 Natus Vincere | 6am |
Round 2 (Sept. 4)
| Match | Time (CDT) | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|
| Team Falcons 2-1 Tundra Esports | 9am | 1-0 |
| Team Spirit 1-2 Xtreme Gaming | 9am | 1-0 |
| Yakutou Brothers 2-1 Nemesis | 9am | 0-1 |
| Aurora Gaming 2-0 Wildcard | 9am | 0-1 |
| PARIVISION 2-0 Nigma Galaxy | 12pm | 1-0 |
| Natus Vincere 2-0 HEROIC | 12pm | 0-1 |
| Team Liquid 0-2 Team Tidebound | 12pm | 1-0 |
| BOOM Esports 0-2 BetBoom Team | 12pm | 0-1 |
Round 3 (Sept. 5)
| Match | Time (CDT) | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|
| Xtreme Gaming 2-1 Team Falcons | 3am | 2-0 |
| Team Spirit 2-1 Tundra Esports | 3am | 1-1 |
| Aurora Gaming 2-0 Yakutou Brothers | 3am | 1-1 |
| Nemesis 0-2 Wildcard | 3am | 0-2 |
| PARIVISION 0-2 Team Tidebound | 6am | 1-0 |
| Nigma Galaxy 1-2 Team Liquid | 6am | 0-1 |
| Natus Vincere 0-2 BetBoom Team | 6am | 1-0 |
| BOOM Esports 0-2 HEROIC | 6am | 0-1 |
Round 4 (Sept. 5)
| Match | Time (CDT) | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|
| Wildcard 0-2 HEROIC | 9am | 1-2 |
| Nigma Galaxy 1-2 Yakutou Brothers | 9am | 1-2 |
| Tundra Esports 2-1 Natus Vincere | 9am | 1-2 |
| BOOM Esports 2-0 Nemesis | 9am | 0-3 (Eliminator) |
Round 5 (Sept. 6)
| Match | Time (CDT) | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|
| Xtreme Gaming 2-0 Team Tidebound | 3am | 3-0 |
| Team Spirit 0-2 PARIVISION | 3am | 2-1 |
| Team Falcons 2-0 Team Liquid | 3am | 2-1 |
| Aurora Gaming 0-2 BetBoom Team | 3am | 2-1 |
| Tundra Esports 0-2 HEROIC | 6am | 2-2 |
| Team Liquid 2-1 Yakutou Brothers | 6am | 2-2 |
| Team Spirit 0-2 Aurora Gaming | 6am | 2-2 |
| Nigma Galaxy 2-1 Natus Vincere | 6am | 1-3 (Eliminator) |
| BOOM Esports 1-2 Wildcard | 6am | 1-3 (Eliminator) |
| Team Falcons 1-2 Team Tidebound | 9am | 3-1 |
| PARIVISION 1-2 BetBoom Team | 9am | 3-1 |
Road to The International – Elimination round
| Match | Time (CDT) |
|---|---|
| HEROIC 2-0 Yakutou Brothers | 12pm (Sept. 6) |
| Aurora Gaming 1-2 Nigma Galaxy | 3am (Sept. 7) |
| PARIVISION 2-0 Wildcard | 6am (Sept. 7) |
| Team Liquid 1-2 Tundra Esports | 9am (Sept. 7) |
| Team Falcons 2-0 Team Spirit | 12pm (Sept. 7) |
The International – Main event
Day 1 (Sept. 11)
| Round | Match | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Upper bracket quarterfinals | Xtreme Gaming 2-0 Tundra Esports | 3am |
| Upper bracket quarterfinals | PARIVISION 2-0 HEROIC | 6am |
| Upper bracket quarterfinals | Team Tidebound 0-2 Team Falcons | 9am |
| Upper bracket quarterfinals | BetBoom Team 2-1 Nigma Galaxy | 12pm |
Day 2 (Sept. 12)
| Round | Match | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Lower bracket round one | Tundra Esports 0-2 HEROIC | 3am |
| Lower bracket round one | Nigma Galaxy 2-0 Team Tidebound | 6am |
| Upper bracket semifinals | Xtreme Gaming 0-2 PARIVISION | 9am |
| Upper bracket semifinals | Team Falcons 2-1 BetBoom Team | 12pm |
Day 3 (Sept. 13)
| Round | Match | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Lower bracket quarterfinals | Nigma Galaxy 0-2 Xtreme Gaming | 3am |
| Lower bracket quarterfinals | HEROIC 1-2 BetBoom Team | 6am |
| Upper bracket final | PARIVISION 1-2 Team Falcons | 9am |
| Lower bracket semifinal | BetBoom Team 0-2 Xtreme Gaming | 12pm |
Day 4 (Sept. 14)
| Round | Match | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Lower bracket final | PARIVISION 1-2 Xtreme Gaming | 3am |
| Grand final | Team Falcons 3-2 Xtreme Gaming | 6am |
Dota 2 TI 2025 prize pool
After the recent release of the compendium as well as the Talent and Team packs, Valve has confirmed that the prize pool for this year’s TI will be funded based on all the packs being purchased by the community.
The developer has announced that 50% of all sales from these packs will go directly to the respective Talent and Team, while 30% of sales will be diverted towards growing the prize pool. Given that the base prize pool is set at $1.6 million, it will be interesting to see what the final amount turns out to be for TI14.
Where to watch TI 2025
TI 2025 was live-streamed across several channels on Twitch and YouTube. However, the safest bet is to tune in to Dota 2 or The International’s official channels on either platform for live updates from the annual extravaganza.
