Riot Games has started informing organisations whether they will be VALORANT Champions Tour partners for 2027 and 2028. Each of the four regions is being cut from ten partner teams to eight, for a total of 32.
Riot has not yet published an official list. According to reports, organisations that have themselves announced they were not selected include Cloud9, ENVY, FlyQuest, LYON and M80 in the Americas, Barça eSports and GIANTX in EMEA, and KIWOOM DRX and Nongshim RedForce in Pacific.
In China, EDward Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, JD Gaming, TYLOO, All Gamers, Trace Esports, Weibo Gaming and Xi Lai Gaming have announced their partner status. Lists for the other regions currently rely largely on unofficial sources.
The change was announced in April, when Riot said VCT would move to a tournament model in 2027 with a new two-year partnership cycle. Partners receive a guaranteed annual payment, a performance bonus, an in-game team capsule and direct seeding into later rounds of open qualifiers.