VALORANT Challengers NA 2025: Teams, Schedule, Info

Here's everything to know about the 2025 VALORANT Challengers NA season including its schedule, key info, teams and more.
VALORANT Challengers NA 2025 will bring the best North American teams together to compete for coveted spots in Ascension and a path to the VALORANT Champions Tour.
VALORANT Challengers NA 2025 will bring the best North American teams together to compete for coveted spots in Ascension and a path to the VALORANT Champions Tour. / Riot Games

VALORANT's Champion Tour is among the most competitive and prestigious esports circuits. The path to its main event is far from easy, and interested teams must first overcome the trials of the Challengers League and the intense Ascension tournament. 2025 is an unprecedented competitive year — well-known teams like TSM, M80 and YFP will take the stage alongside Shopify Rebellion Gold, the first-ever all-female Game Changers team to qualify for a Challengers tournament.

With VALORANT's Challengers NA 2025 season in full swing, let's explore everything fans need to know including the circuit's participating teams, format, event schedule and streaming locations.

What is VALORANT Challengers?

VALORANT's Challengers tournament is the coveted entry point that allows teams to progress into the prestigious VALORANT Champions Tour circuit. It is a VCL B-tier tournament, typically lasts for the entire competitive year and spans each of VALORANT's regions (Americas, EMEA, China and the Pacific). The top Challengers team from each region will advance to the four VCT Ascension tournaments (again with one subsection for each region). Each regional Ascension winning team will qualify for a spot in next year's VALORANT Champions Tour, the highest possible level of VALORANT pro play.

Riot Games states regarding the Challengers NA 2025 season:

The competitive ecosystem of ACE VALORANT Challengers NA will evolve in 2025 with new formats, an updated points system, and more opportunities for emerging talent. This season will be filled with excitement, culminating with VALORANT Champions Tour Ascension.

Riot Games

Shopify Rebellion: From Game Changers to Challengers

Notably, 2025 is the first year an all-women team has qualified for VALORANT Challengers. Shopify Rebellion Gold entered the tournament's Closed Qualifiers this year, and after defeating four rival teams, they secured a spot in the event's Stage 1 of competition on January 22 2025. Shopify Rebellion Gold's roster, including star players alexis, meL, Noia, sarah and dodonut, previously gained recognition for their skill after winning two Game Changers Championships in a row. Ex-Shopify Rebellion player florescent also became the first woman to join a VCT team this year after moving to Apeks.

Related Article: The First VALORANT Game Changers Player to Enter Tier 1 VCT: Who Is florescent?

In VALORANT Challengers NA 2025, Shopify Rebellion Gold will face off against their sibling team Shopify Rebellion Black. Well-known organizations including Team Solo-Mid (TSM), M80 and YFP will also be showing up with fierce competition. This year's tournament will showcase the best and most innovative talents of the region in unforgettable matchups.

All VALORANT Challengers NA 2025 Teams

The following teams will participate in VALORANT Challengers NA 2025 Stage 1:

  • Ambrosia
  • Cubert Academy
  • Shopify Rebellion Black
  • Nightblood Gaming
  • QoR
  • Rankers
  • SaD Esports
  • Trust in Plug
  • TSM
  • M80
  • YFP
  • Rock Bottom
  • Hakikimori
  • Blue Otter
  • Winthrop University
  • Shopify Rebellion Gold

VALORANT Challengers NA 2025 Schedule; Format

Challengers NA 2025 will stretch through the entire VALORANT competitive year.
Challengers NA 2025 will stretch through the entire VALORANT competitive year. / Riot Games

VALORANT Challengers NA will take place in three main stages. Teams can qualify for Challengers NA in several ways. Firstly, the league invites some teams to compete based on prior strong performance in Challengers 2024. Secondly, teams can qualify through VALORANT's in-game Premier system, which replicates esports matchups among independent groups of players. In 2025, Rock Bottom and Hikikimori qualified as Premier teams. In addition, teams can qualify through Qualifiers where they fight through several brackets for three possible spots. Blue Otter, Winthrop University and Shopify Rebllion Gold all qualified in this manner.

In each stage, the winning teams receive points in varied amounts depending on their performance. One team with the most points at the end of the Challengers circuit will qualify for VCT Ascension and represent North American VALORANT against the most competitive EMEA, Pacific, and Chinese teams.

The team that wins VALORANT Challengers NA 2025's final and most competitive portion, Stage 3, will also qualify to VCT Ascension 2025.

Qualifiers

The VALORANT Challengers NA 2025 Qualifiers have concluded. Blue Otter and Winthrop University secured placements in Challengers NA 2025 Stage 1 through the Closed Qualifiers' upper bracket, and Shopify Rebellion Gold had a resurgence in the lower bracket and snatched the final Closed Qualifier spot.

VALORANT Challengers NA Stage 1

Challengers NA Stage 1 will stretch from January 27 to March 28 2025. It will include two phases: Swiss Stage and Playoffs.

  • Swiss Stage: January 27 - March 2 2025
  • Playoffs: Until March 28 2025

Stage 1's promotion and relegation will occur in March.

VALORANT Challengers NA Stage 2

Stage 2's exact dates are still TBD, but we know the event will occur from April to May 2025. It will also include Swiss Stage and Playoffs segments.

  • Swiss Stage: TBD
  • Playoffs: TBD

Promotion and relegation will occur in May 2025.

VALORANT Challengers NA Stage 3

Challengers NA Stage 3 will take place from July to September 2025. It will have a similar format to stages 1 and 2.

  • Swiss Stage: TBD
  • Playoffs: TBD

Promotion and relegation for this stage will occur in September.

How to Watch VALORANT Challengers 2025

There are plenty of live broadcasts and discussion areas where avid fans can watch their favorite North American Challengers teams compete. VALORANT's official esports website, valorantesports.com. Viewers can also pop into the official North American VALORANT esports account's Twitch stream at www.twitch.tv/valorant_northamerica and their official YouTube lives at @VALORANTChallengersAmericas.

In addition, many content creators will display matches on their individual channels. Riot Games sponsors some of these personalities as official co-streamers.

For more detailed information, check VALORANT's official statement regarding the tournament here. Let the games begin!


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