The International 2026 on Dota 2: tournament format, prize pool and new team tags starts in Shanghai

On August 13, the main tournament of the year in Dota 2 – The International 2026 (TI 15) starts at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai. Sixteen of the best teams in the world will compete for prize money in excess of $2.88 million.

Schedule and format of competitions

The tournament consists of three consecutive stages:

• Group stage (13-16 August): It is held on the updated Swiss system in the Best-of-3 format (up to two wins). According to its results, the three best teams directly go to the playoffs, and the three worst finish the performance;
• Elimination playoff round (August 15–16): teams from 4 to 13 places will fight for the remaining 5 vouchers to the main stage;
• Final playoffs (20-23 August): The eight strongest teams will play the main trophy of the tournament at the stadium.

Prohibition of sponsors and forced rebranding

Due to Valve’s rules, The International 2026 completely prohibits the use of betting and some other sponsorship symbols in club names. Because of this, a number of famous participants changed their names during the tournament:

• BetBoom Team tagged n Boom Boys;
• PARIVISION renamed Team Vision;
• 1win Team appeared as Iron Wing;
• L1GA TEAM performer HULIGANI.

First matches of the tournament

In the starting round on August 13, at 5:00 Moscow time, there will be meetings with the participation of favorites: two-time Team Spirit champions will play against the Chinese Xtreme Gaming, the Boom Boys will meet with OG, and the current winners of the Team Falcons trophy will meet with LGD Gaming.