VCT 2026 Americas Stage 1 is the first full league split of the year for teams from North and South America, and it takes place between late March and late May as part of Riot’s revamped VALORANT esports calendar.
12 partnered organizations return from the Kickoff period and Masters Santiago to chase championship points, a spot at Masters London, and an early lead in the race toward Champions 2026.
Like last time, the league will be split into a long group stage followed by Playoffs, where every win will add to each team’s points tally. The top three squads at the end of Stage 1 will head to Masters London, while the rest will fight to stay in the mix for Stage 2 and the season finals.
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VCT 2026 Americas Stage 1 schedule
VCT 2026 Americas Stage 1 starts from April 10, 2026, but the end date is yet to be decided. Matchdays will be spread across multiple weeks with regular best-of-three matches.
The league will be held at Riot Games Arena in the United States, following the same structure as other international leagues, including a Group Stage that will run for several weeks, before heading into a Playoff bracket to close out the split.
As Stage 1 gets closer, I will update this section with the exact daily match times and fixtures.
All teams at VCT 2026 Americas Stage 1
VCT 2026 Americas Stage 1 will see 12 partnered teams battling head-to-head. Here are the partnered Americas teams in 2026:
- 100 Thieves
- Cloud9
- Evil Geniuses
- FURIA
- KRÜ Esports
- Leviatán
- LOUD
- MIBR
- NRG
- Sentinels
- G2 Esports
- ENVY
These squads are seeded into pools based on their final standings at the 2026 Kickoff event, which then determines group placement for Stage 1.
VCT 2026 Americas Stage 1 format explained
Stage 1 uses a two-phase structure. The Group Stage will have 12 teams split into two groups of six, with a single round-robin format, where every team plays five best-of-three series in its group.
Each match win will give one Championship point, and the top four teams from each group advance to the Playoffs. The bottom two teams in each group are eliminated from Stage 1. Groups are created using six seeding pools, all based on Kickoff results, with the top two, mid-table, and lower-placed Kickoff teams distributed to keep things competitive.
The Playoffs will have eight teams in total (top four from each group), with an upper and lower bracket structure. The first and second-placed group teams will start in the upper bracket round one, while fourth-placed teams begin in the lower bracket. Matches are BO3 in the initial rounds, and finals will be BO5.
VCT 2026 Americas Stage 1 prize pool
Riot has yet to announce the exact Stage 1 prize pool figures. Coming to the base points from Stage 1, it’ll look like this:
- 1 point per group stage match win
- 6 additional points for the Stage 1 Champion
- 4 additional points for second place
- 3 additional points for third place
- 2 additional points for fourth place
These numbers stack on top of whatever teams earned in Kickoff and Masters Santiago, and they will also influence seeding and qualification for later events like Stage 2, Season Finals, and Champions later this year.
VCT 2026 keeps the same international structure across all regions, where 1st, 2nd, and 3rd placed team will qualify for Masters London.
Masters London is the second international event of the year after Masters Santiago, so Stage 1 becomes even more important.
