The International 2026 teams: full 16-team field

The International 2026 teams are confirmed, with seven direct invitees and nine regional qualifier winners forming the 16-team Shanghai field. The tournament begins on August 13 before the arena stage runs August 20–23.

Europe supplied four qualifier places in addition to most of the direct invites, while China received two qualifier slots. Southeast Asia, North America and South America each added one team.

Seven The International 2026 teams received direct invites

Aurora, BoomBoys, Team Falcons, Team Liquid, Tundra Esports, Xtreme Gaming and Team Yandex received direct invitations. Branding changes mean some teams may appear under different names on current event listings, but their qualification route remains a direct invite.

Valve’s invitation announcement allocated the other nine positions through five regional qualifiers. BLAST’s current TI 2026 tournament page lists the full event field and notes that the competition has not started, so no standings or winner exist yet.

Nine teams advanced through regional qualifiers

• Europe: Team Spirit, PARIVISION, L1GA Team and Nigma Galaxy
• China: Team Resilience and Vici Gaming
• Southeast Asia: OG
• North America: GamerLegion
• South America: LGD Gaming

The qualifier split creates a field with different preparation histories. Direct invitees could plan around the event earlier, while qualifier teams arrived through elimination brackets that produced more recent public drafts and match footage.

That does not make the invitees automatic favourites. Qualification path explains how a team entered the event, not how it will perform once the tournament starts. Roster form, the live patch and the opening matchups still need separate evidence.

Our TI 2026 Shanghai schedule covers the dates and venue. Readers studying the games can pair it with our guide to Dota 2 high-ground discipline, where one rushed push can reverse an otherwise controlled map.

Sources: Valve, May 25, 2026; BLAST.tv, verified August 5, 2026.