Valve reveals direct invites to The International 2026
Attention, Dota 2 esports fans! Developer Valve has officially revealed the seven direct-invite teams to The International 2026, this year’s crowning event. For those who don’t know, The International 2026 takes place in Shanghai, China, from 13 to 23 August 2026.
In a recent blog post, Valve announced the seven teams that have been invited to participate in The International 2026. The rosters were also revealed. Valve explained that:
“Throughout the year, Dota teams around the world battle to prove themselves worthy of direct invitation to The International — and a chance to compete for the Aegis of Champions on the world’s biggest stage. Teams that secure invites can begin to focus on their final preparations, while the remaining contenders face one last chance to fight their way in.”
Check out the direct invite teams, alongside their confirmed rosters, outlined below.
Team Falcons:
- Oliver “Skiter” Lepko
- Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak
- Ammar “ATF” Alassaf
- Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen
- Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu
Tundra Esports:
- Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko
- Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov
- Neta “33” Shapira
- Matthew “Ari” Walker
- Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon
Aurora Gaming:
- Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko
- Rafli “Mikoto” Fathur Rahman
- Wei Shen “Ws`” Chung
- Myroslav “Mira” Kolpakov
- Oleh “kaori” Medvedok
BoomBoys:
- Ilia “Kiritych~” Ulianov
- Danil “gpk~” Skutin
- Matvey “MieRo” Vasyunin
- Vitalie “Save-” Melnic
- Vladislav “Kataomi`” Semenov
Team Liquid:
- Michael “m1CKe” Vu
- Michał “Nisha” Jankowski
- Marcus “Ace” Christensen
- Samuel “Boxi” Svahn
- Erik “tOfu” Engel
Xtreme Gaming:
- Chunyu “Ame” Wang
- Jin Xiang “NothingToSay” Cheng
- Jing “Xxs” Lin
- Linsen “fy” Xu
- Jian Wei “xNova” Yap
Team Yandex:
- Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov
- Ilya “CHIRA_JUNIOR” Chirtsov
- Dmitrii “DM” Dorokhin
- Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
- Arman “Malady” Orazbayev
Stay tuned to Esports Central, as we’ll bring you coverage of The International 2026, alongside details on the upcoming qualifier events, with nine (9) spots at the main event yet to be claimed.
Header image via Valve.
