Tournament organizer and game developer Riot Games announced today that new participants will be added to its exclusive VALORANT partnership program through the Ascension tournament by 2028.
The number of teams in the three leagues will increase each year and the first new teams will be added in 2024. One new entrant will join each league until 2027. Teams will have the opportunity to join the affiliate league through new Ascension tournaments.
The three partnership leagues to be established in the EMEA, Americas and APAC regions will feature 2023 teams, 10 in each league, in 30, as confirmed by Riot's announcement.
By 2028, there will be 42 teams in partner leagues, this year 30 teams will partner directly with Riot and 12 teams will qualify with Ascension.
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Teams can qualify to participate in Riot's affiliate program by winning Ascension tournaments, the next level of regional Challengers leagues. There will be 21 Challengers leagues around the world, divided by region.
Similar to VALORANT regional leagues in EMEA, top teams from Challengers leagues will qualify for their own regional Ascension tournament. Then, the winner of the Ascension tournament will qualify for the following year's affiliate program.
This format will allow the top three teams from each region to participate directly in international leagues. These teams will earn a two-year promotion with similar benefits to partner teams, but will then return to the Challengers.
