Right now, millions of Dota players are already studiously constructing new Fantasy rosters, loyally repping favorite talent and player bundles, and endlessly serenading enemies and allies with the freshest of voice lines. If you're not one of them, there's no better time than now to dig in. Because as you read this, final preparations are well underway in Hamburg, Germany — and The International 2025 is almost here.
The Road to The International: Playoffs kick off with sixteen teams vying for the Aegis of Champions, but only eight will survive the first trials on the path to victory. The action starts with a five-round Swiss bracket: Over the first three days, sixteen teams will play best-of-three matches against other teams with the same overall series record. A fourth series win will earn a team an automatic berth at The International; a fourth loss will result in elimination. After five rounds of Swiss, three teams will have secured spots in The International and three teams will have been eliminated. The ten remaining teams will face off in a special elimination round, with the five winners advancing to The International and the five losers failing to join them. This first part of the tournament runs from Thursday, September 4th through Sunday, September 7th, and every series on Sunday carries the threat of elimination.
The International itself begins Thursday, September 11th in Barclays Arena, running across four days and culminating with the Grand Finals on Sunday, September 14th. Tickets for Saturday and Sunday are sold out, but you can still snag spots for the first two days over on AXS. Thursday offers the chance to catch the live component of the Opening Ceremony, along with a ton of top-tier Dota. As an added bonus, all eight teams who reach The International will have at least one signing session at the arena on Thursday or Friday. Stop by for a little face time with your favorite squads. We'll be back to provide more details about on-site events, badges, Crimson Witness drops and more as we move closer to the show.
If you read all the above, you're well aware there's an immense amount of Dota in store. In fact, it's physically improbable to catch every single game live. That said, we know some of you are going to try it, so here are all the links you need to know for your valiant attempts:
English: Twitch: Stream A, Stream B, Stream C, Stream D; Steam: All Streams; YouTube: All Streams
Spanish: Twitch: Stream A, Stream B, Stream C, Stream D; Facebook: All Streams; Steam: All Streams; YouTube: All Streams
Russian: Twitch: Stream A, Stream B, Stream C, Stream D; Steam: All Streams; YouTube: All Streams
Chinese: Twitch: Stream A, Stream B, Stream C, Stream D; Steam: All Streams
We've also handed out a dozen broadcast licenses to help you connect with your local community and watch together online.
Bahasa Melayu: YouTube
Brazilian Portuguese: YouTube
Bulgarian: Twitch
Finnish: Twitch
French: Twitch
German: Twitch
Mongolian: YouTube
Tagalog & Bahasa Indonesian: Twitch, Facebook, YouTube, Kick, YouTube
Vietnamese: YouTube
As some of you may have noticed, WeAreNations already have a ton of new swag available online. They have two handy links, depending on where you are:
NA Store: https://na.dota2secretshop.com/
International Store: https://int.dota2secretshop.com/ Our friends over at Perfect World are also offering a new collection for this year:
For fans in China: https://wmsjdj.world.tmall.com/
International Store: https://pwrdesports.aliexpress.com/store/1103775565 Finally, for those of you with an eye for flashy furniture, our longstanding partner Secretlab will once again be supporting all stages of this year's tournament with both chairs and desks custom built for The International 2025. Players will navigate their TI journeys ensconced in full Secretlab setups, featuring the TITAN Evo chair and MAGNUS Pro Sit-to-Stand Desk.
The Dota auteurs turned out and now it's time for us to tune in and select our finalists. We've narrowed the submissions down to get the reel rolling, but we're calling on fans everywhere to help us vote for the rest. The nominees will be available to vote on in the client until Tuesday, September 2. The top ten entries selected by the community will be shown during The International, where we'll also announce the overall winners. As mentioned, we'll be back with more badge, treasure, and other event info next week for those heading to the venue to join the fun. For now, we'll leave everyone with a set of TI wallpapers to help freshen up the themes on your flat-screens as we head towards the big show.