The International 2025 will take place in Hamburg, Germany, bringing TI back to German soil for the first time since 2011 – and that matters because TI still carries the biggest prestige and the biggest community-funded prize pools in Dota 2. Here’s a clear rundown of dates, format, teams, and where to watch.
The International is still the biggest Dota 2 event by prestige and attention, even after Valve swapped the old battle pass model for the compendium-based funding model. If you follow Dota, this is the one weekend most players, casters, and teams circle on their calendars.
Dota 2 TI 2025 format and teams
TI14 will open with a Swiss stage, move into an elimination round, and then the eight surviving teams will fight it out on the double-elimination main stage. This is similar to last year format, but the Swiss-first approach changes how teams advance early on.
TI 2025 will feature a new format.
- Swiss Bracket
-
- 16 teams play five rounds of best-of-three. Round one uses random seeding; later rounds seed by identical records.
- Top three teams with four wins advance directly to the main event. Bottom three with four losses are eliminated. The teams placed fourth to 13th go to the elimination round.
- Elimination Round
- Highest-rated remaining teams face the lowest-rated. Fourth faces 13th, and so on.
- Elimination BO3s – five winners move on, five teams are eliminated.
- Main event
- Double-elimination bracket of BO3s, lower-bracket elimination, and a BO5 grand final.
Here are the invited and qualified teams announced for 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 |
| TBD | TBD | 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 |
Note: Gaimin Gladiators announced they are withdrawing, and Valve said a replacement invite will be named before the event.
Dota 2 TI 2025 schedule
Valve confirmed the stage dates, though the minute-by-minute match schedule will come later. Key dates are:
- The Road to The International (Swiss stage and elimination round): Sept. 4 – 7, 2025
- The International (Main event): Sept. 11 – 14, 2025
Regional qualifiers have specific windows too: Eastern Europe and South America run June 4 – 8; North America and China run June 9 – 12; Southeast Asia and Western Europe run June 13 – 17.
Dota 2 TI 2025 prize pool
Prize pool funding for TI14 will come from compendium-like packs: Valve confirmed that 50% of sales from Talent and Team packs will go to the respective Talent and Team, and 30% of those sales will be added to the prize pool. The base prize pool is $1.6 million, and community purchases will grow it further.
Where to watch TI 2025
TI14 will be streamed across multiple channels on Twitch and YouTube. The official Dota 2 YouTube channel is a safe place for the main broadcast: Dota 2 on YouTube.
Valve also promotes the official The International channels on Twitch. The International official Twitch stream is embedded below:
If you want the tweet that first discussed the format change, here is the original post from Wykrhm Reddy:
As you know, The International gets a new format this year. It kicks off with the Road To The International adopting a Swiss style contest followed by an eliminator leading in to the good ole Double Elim Bracket for the Main Event.
Tickets to TI on April 15 @ 10 AM CEST. #TI14 pic.twitter.com/0JVGiULzkz
— Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) April 4, 2025
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