The International 2026 kicks off today in Shanghai: full schedule, the 16 teams, and where to watch

It starts today. The International 2026 group stage runs from August 13 to 16, and the main event follows from August 20 to 23, at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai.

We've already broken down the scoring mechanics of the Swiss format and explained why finishing third has nothing to do with finishing fourth. This guide answers the other, more practical question: when, where, and who to watch.

The schedule in two blocks

The tournament plays out in two clearly separated stretches, with a three-day break between them:

• August 13 to 16 — group stage, in Swiss format.
• August 20 to 23 — main event, in double elimination.

This three-day breather is good news for European viewers: it means they can catch up on the group stage on replay without missing anything from the bracket.

The format, explained simply

Sixteen teams compete in the group stage, and every match is played as a Bo3 — a detail that matters, since it considerably reduces the element of luck compared to a Bo1.

Advancing from the group stage happens in two waves:

• The top three advance directly to the playoffs.
• Teams ranked from 4th to 13th place play an elimination round, whose five winners join the final bracket.

Total: eight teams at the main event. Which means that half the field is eliminated before August 20 — the group stage isn't a warm-up, it's already a cutoff.

The main event is played in double elimination, with a grand final in Bo5.

The sixteen teams

The lineup brings together seven direct invites and nine regional qualifier winners:

• Aurora, BB Team, 1w Team, Team Falcons
• Team Liquid, Team Yandex, Xtreme Gaming, Team Spirit
• PVISION, Nigma Galaxy, HULIGANI, Team Resilience
• Vici Gaming, OG, GamerLegion, LGD Gaming

Two names catch the eye for a French-speaking audience. OG, two-time world champion, returns to the stage that built its legend. And Team Spirit remains, as every year, the team nobody wants to run into too early.

The tournament is being held in Shanghai, which gives a considerable crowd advantage to the Chinese organizations — Xtreme Gaming, Vici Gaming, and LGD Gaming will play in front of their supporters.

The prize pool

The base prize pool is $1.6 million, boosted to around $2.8 million thanks to in-game purchases. The champion will walk away with at least $1.2 million.

These amounts are nowhere near the tournament's records from the Compendium era. This is the result of a deliberate choice made by Valve over the past several years: bringing The International back down to a sustainable scale rather than sustaining an escalation funded by players. The debate on this point isn't settled within the community, but the numbers themselves have stayed stable year after year.

Where to watch

Official broadcasts are available on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook. On the Chinese side, the tournament airs on DouYu, Huya, and Bilibili.

One organizational point to plan around: Shanghai is at UTC+8, while Paris is at UTC+2 in August. That's a six-hour difference, and in the wrong direction for Europe: a day of competition that starts in the morning in Shanghai kicks off in the middle of the night in France.

Practical consequence: if you don't plan on staying up, check each day's start time the evening before and plan to catch up with the replays instead. Since Valve hasn't published detailed schedules at the time of writing, it's best not to rely on schedules reconstructed by third parties.

How to follow without spending all day on it

Four days of Bo3 across sixteen teams adds up to a volume of matches that no one watches in full. A few pointers to help sort through it:

1. The first two days serve to separate the top and bottom of the standings. This is where the teams contending for the top 3, and thus direct qualification, start to emerge.
2. August 16 is the decisive day: it sets the final standings and sends ten teams into the elimination round.
3. The elimination round is the best part of the tournament in terms of pure stakes: five spots for ten teams, with no second chances.
4. If you only watch one thing, make it the grand final on August 23, played in Bo5.

What to keep in mind about the Swiss format

One last point that changes how you should read the matches, and explains why the group standings matter so much. Unlike a classic group-stage bracket, the Swiss format pairs teams based on their record: the more you win, the tougher your next opponents get.

This produces a counterintuitive effect that casual viewers often miss: a team that loses its first match isn't doomed, it simply faces a more manageable opponent in the next round. Conversely, a team that starts off very strong can end up facing one heavyweight after another.

This is also what makes the top 3 cutoff so brutal, and we devoted a separate piece to it: between direct qualification and going through the elimination round, the gap in fatigue and risk is considerable, even though only a single spot separates them in the standings.

The schedule to remember

• Thursday, August 13 — opening of the group stage.
• Sunday, August 16 — final day of the group stage, which sets the standings.
• August 17 to 19 — break, no official matches.
• Thursday, August 20 — start of the main event, with eight teams.
• Sunday, August 23 — grand final, in Bo5.

Note that this edition runs alongside a busy week for Dota players: the Diretide is still going in-game, with its tickets, candy, and discount coins. If you're following the tournament live, this is a good time to make progress on it between matches — the objectives fill up in regular matches.