Here are the 16 teams that will be playing in The International 2025

This year's TI qualifier season saw expected victories from favourites alongside several upsets from dark horse teams.

After two weeks of intense competition, the regional qualifiers for The International (TI) 2025, this year's iteration of Dota 2's annual world championship tournament, have concluded. The full list of 16 teams headed to Hamburg to fight for the Aegis of Champions is now complete.

Among the 16 teams, eight earned direct invitations from Dota 2 developer Valve Software, based on their performances throughout the season. Meanwhile, the remaining eight teams battled their way through regional qualifiers in the scene's six major regions. Valve allocated two slots each for Western Europe and Southeast Asia while Eastern Europe, China, North America, and South America each received one.

Here are all the invited and qualified teams for The International 2025:

The International 2025 teams

• Team Liquid – Invited
• PARIVISION – Invited
• BetBoom Team – Invited
• All Gamers Global (formerly Team Tidebound) – Invited
• Gaimin Gladiators – Invited
• Team Spirit – Invited
• Team Falcons – Invited
• Tundra Esports – Invited
• Natus Vincere (NAVI) Junior – Western Europe Qualifier
• Nigma Galaxy – Western Europe Qualifier
• Aurora Gaming – Eastern Europe Qualifier
• Xtreme Gaming – China Qualifier
• Team Nemesis – Southeast Asia Qualifier
• BOOM Esports – Southeast Asia Qualifier
• Wildcard – North America Qualifier
• HEROIC – South America Qualifier

A look back at the TI 2025 qualifier season

The most significant qualifier season of the year witnessed some expected victories from favourites alongside several mind-blowing upsets. The qualifier rounds have kept viewers on edge until the very end, when Western Europe crowned the final contender. 

That brings us to one of the biggest results in the regional qualifiers, with fan-favourites Nigma Galaxy grabbing the final slot in TI 2025. The Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi-led team has never attended TI under the Nigma Galaxy banner, and now they break that five-year absence to finally bring back some of Dota 2’s biggest names on the grand stage.

Despite being the youngest team at the tournament, NAVI Junior secured the first regional qualifier slot for Western Europe convincingly. Blending youthful drive with the veteran leadership of Bakyt “Zayac” Emilzhanov, this rising squad could just be a 2021 Team Spirit 2.0 in the making–and they’re sure to be one of the most closely watched teams in their TI debut.

Other regions saw favourites expectedly clinching the coveted spots in TI. Aurora dominated Eastern Europe, HEROIC outpaced Edge in the grand finals of the South American qualifier, and Xtreme Gaming demolished big threats like Yakult Brothers, Azure Ray, and Vici Gaming to easily secure TI participation. 

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the favorites as the qualifiers also delivered their fair share of shocking upsets. 

Talon Esports, fresh off a Top 3 finish at DreamLeague Season 26, looked in incredible shape for an easy TI qualification. However, the Southeast Asian powerhouse failed to qualify despite the region having two available slots. Talon fell to underdog Team Nemesis, who took the first slot, and BOOM Esports, who claimed the second.

Things also took a turn in the North American qualifier. The region’s top team, Shopify Rebellion, was unexpectedly taken down by Wildcard, which had just suffered a 0–3 loss to them in the Esports World Cup 2025 qualifiers days earlier. Following a successful comeback, Wildcard claims the ticket to the world championship with four of their players set to make their TI debut in Hamburg.

With all 16 teams locked in, all eyes now turn to the main event. TI 2025 will take place in Hamburg, Germany, from 4 to 14 September. This will be the first time since the inaugural edition of TI back in 2011 that Dota 2's world championship tournament is hosted in Germany.

This year's Dota 2 world championship tournament also features a revamped format with the addition of a new Swiss-format Group Stage and Special Elimination Round along with tweaks to the Playoff seeding. TI 2025 will be split into two distinct phases, The Road to The International and The International proper. The Road to The International will feature the new Swiss-format Group Stage and Special Elimination Round while The International proper will feature the Playoffs.

TI 2025's Group Stage and Special Elimination Round will run from 4 to 7 September. The new Swiss-format Group Stage will feature the 16 participating teams competing in a five-round Swiss bracket with best-of-three matches. Teams will need to win four series in order to advance to the Playoffs while those that suffer four losses will be eliminated, with three teams advancing to the Playoffs and three others getting eliminated after the Group Stage.

The 10 other teams will then have to play in the Special Elimination Round, where the high seeds will face the low seeds, with the winners advancing to the Playoffs and the losers getting eliminated. In total, this year's Road to The International will see eight teams advance to The International itself while eight others will have their journeys cut short early.

The International proper, i.e. the Playoffs, will take place from 11 to 14 September, and still follow the tried-and-tested double-elimination format that fans have grown accustomed to. However, instead of having some teams start in the lower bracket as in previous editions, TI 2025's Playoffs will have all eight Playoff-qualified teams start in the upper bracket. 

As usual, TI 2025's Playoffs will feature best-of-three matches except for the Grand Finals, which will be a full best-of-five series for the coveted Aegis of Champions.

But before we get to the grand competition, we’ll see high-profile Dota 2 action occur in PGL Wallachia Season 5 (21 to 29 June) and the Esports World Cup 2025's Dota 2 tournament (8 to 19 July).

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