Riot Games has released the full bracket and opening matchups for the VALORANT EMEA Clash 2026. The mid-season tournament runs February 19 to 25 and brings together twelve teams split between VCT EMEA league sides and Challengers EMEA representatives, with all matches streaming live on VCT EMEA's official Twitch and YouTube channels.
EMEA Clash Overview
The EMEA Clash fills the competitive gap between the regional Kickoff and the year's first international event. VCT EMEA teams that didn't qualify for Masters Santiago get continued action, while Challengers squads get a rare shot at Tier 1 competition on a high-profile stage.
For the VCT sides, it's a chance to rebuild momentum after tough Kickoff exits. For the Challengers teams, it's one of the most visible platforms outside their own circuit, with the kind of exposure that can open doors for players looking to move up.
Who's Not Playing
Three teams are absent because they already secured spots at Masters Santiago: BBL Esports, Gentle Mates, and Team Liquid. All three will spend the coming weeks preparing for the international event, which kicks off February 28 in Chile.
Fnatic and Team Heretics were eligible but opted out. Riot didn't make participation mandatory, so both organizations declined without penalty. Fnatic reached the Mid Bracket Final of the Kickoff, where they pushed Gentle Mates to a five-map series in front of 336,652 concurrent viewers, the peak of the entire Kickoff. They still opted out of the Clash.
VCT EMEA Participants
The six VCT EMEA participants are Team Vitality, FUT Esports, Karmine Corp, GIANTX, Natus Vincere (NAVI), and ULF Esports.
Karmine Corp enter the event carrying some weight from the Kickoff. The organization, co-owned by French Twitch personality Kamel "Kamet0" Kebir, is one of the region's biggest audience draws. Their early Lower Bracket exit during the Kickoff was directly tied to the drop in average viewership across the event, as fans tuned out following their elimination. The Clash is their first competitive action since that exit.
NAVI are in a similar position after a Kickoff that didn't go their way. They'll be competing without player Ruxic, whose absence was confirmed at the time of the tournament announcement. No further details have been shared.
Team Vitality, GIANTX, and ULF Esports round out the VCT contingent. All three finished the Kickoff without qualifying for Masters Santiago, giving the Clash real weight as the next time any of them see competitive play before the season moves on.
Challengers Participants
The six Challengers participants are all VCL champions from their respective EMEA sub-regions: FOKUS, UCAM Esport, Joblife, Enterprise Esports, Team Stallions, and Beşiktaş Esports.
Beşiktaş bring an interesting angle through their connection to Kick streamer Ferit "wtcn" Karakaya. His coverage of the Kickoff drove a 66.2% year-on-year increase in Turkish-language viewership for EMEA Valorant, pushing Turkish past Spanish to become the third most-watched language at the event. If wtcn covers the Clash with similar reach, Beşiktaş could pull numbers well above what their Challengers pedigree alone would suggest.
For the other Challengers teams, the draw against VCT competition is the primary storyline. None of them received byes, so they open against other Challengers teams before facing VCT competition in the second round.
Format
The tournament runs a double-elimination format divided into two parallel paths called Alpha and Omega. Each group contains three VCT EMEA teams and three Challengers teams. Both brackets run at the same time before converging in the final stages, meaning the Alpha and Omega winners will eventually meet to determine the overall champion.
Teams that lose in the upper bracket of one group drop into the lower bracket of the opposite group, not their own. This cross-group mechanic means paths from Alpha and Omega intersect earlier than in a standard double-elimination draw, and teams can face opponents from the other bracket before the final stages.
The top four VCT EMEA teams from Kickoff standings received first-round byes, entering directly at Round 2 of the upper bracket. FUT Esports and ULF Esports didn't earn byes and open on Day 1 alongside the Challengers representatives. The early rounds are structured so Challengers teams face each other first, with the higher-seeded VCT sides entering in Round 2 to face whoever advances.
The format rewards consistency across the full run. Dropping into the lower bracket isn't immediately fatal, but every match there carries elimination stakes, and the path back through to the final stages is longer and harder.
Group Alpha Bracket
Group Alpha features Team Vitality, Karmine Corp, and FUT Esports from VCT EMEA, alongside Challengers representatives FOKUS, UCAM Esport, and Joblife. Vitality and Karmine Corp both have byes. FUT Esports start immediately in Round 1.
Upper Bracket Round 1
- FOKUS vs UCAM Esport
- FUT Esports vs Joblife
Upper Bracket Round 2
- Team Vitality vs winner of Match 1
- Karmine Corp vs winner of Match 2
Karmine Corp's Round 2 match will be their first competitive appearance since the Kickoff. A loss there drops them into the lower bracket immediately, where they'd need to grind back through the bracket with no more room to slip.
Group Omega Bracket
Group Omega features GIANTX, NAVI, and ULF Esports from VCT EMEA, alongside Challengers teams Enterprise Esports, Team Stallions, and Beşiktaş Esports. GIANTX and NAVI have byes. ULF Esports open in Round 1.
Upper Bracket Round 1
- Enterprise Esports vs Team Stallions
- ULF Esports vs Beşiktaş Esports
Upper Bracket Round 2
- GIANTX vs winner of Match 1
- NAVI vs winner of Match 2
NAVI's first match will be in Round 2 against whichever Challengers team comes through the Enterprise Esports vs Team Stallions opener, and they'll be without Ruxic when that happens.
Draw Show
Riot hosted the official EMEA Clash Draw Show on February 17 on the VCT EMEA Twitch channel, where final bracket placements were determined live. The full bracket was released publicly the same day, with the event itself starting two days later on February 19.
Kickoff Context
The EMEA Clash follows a Kickoff that put up complicated numbers. Total Hours Watched reached 12.9 million, up 6.63% from 2025, but average viewership dropped to 141,013, a 28.35% decline year-on-year. The early exits of Karmine Corp and NAVI were cited as primary factors, with both organizations drawing significant audience share that dried up when they were eliminated.
The Kickoff peaked at 336,652 concurrent viewers on Day 15 during the Gentle Mates vs Fnatic Mid Bracket Final, the match that determined who would claim the second of EMEA's three Masters Santiago spots. Gentle Mates won 3-2.
English led all languages with over 40% of total watch time. French held second despite losing roughly 1% of its share following Karmine Corp's exit. Gentle Mates' run kept French viewership close to 2025 levels, with the organization co-owned by content creators Corentin "Gotaga" Houssein and Lucas "Squeezie" Hauchard. Turkish climbed to third, surpassing Spanish largely on the back of wtcn's coverage, with its share rising around 3.6%.
Twitch also lost ground compared to 2025, with Kick and YouTube picking up the difference. The three most-watched channels covering the event belonged to Squeezie, Gotaga, and wtcn, all three have ties to organizations in the Clash field.
Masters Santiago 2026 runs February 28 to March 15, bringing together twelve teams from the four international leagues with $1 million on the line.
