# 2021 Valorant Champions

The 2021 Valorant Champions was an esports tournament for the first-person shooter video game Valorant. It was the first-ever edition of VALORANT Champions, the culmination of Valorant Champions Tour, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer Riot Games. The tournament was held from December 1 to 12 in Berlin, Germany. Sixteen teams qualified for the tournament based on their result via 2021 VALORANT Masters: Stage 3, the regional Circuit Point standings in the year, and the regional Last Chance Qualifiers.
"Die For You" was the tournament's theme song, put together by Grabbitz, while Zedd, and Dabin, produced their own respective remix versions of the theme song.
Acend won the Valorant world championship after defeating Gambit Esports in the finals by a score of 3–2.

## Venues

Berlin was the city chosen to host the competition. The Group Stage was held at the Marlene-Dietrich-Halle, while the Semifinals and Finals was held at the Verti Music Hall.
Berlin, Germany :
| Group Stage | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals |
| Marlene-Dietrich-Halle | Marlene-Dietrich-Halle | Verti Music Hall | Verti Music Hall |
| Berlin ||||

## Format
### Tournament spots

A total of 16 teams qualified for Champions. The winner of the Stage 3 Masters (Gambit Esports from EMEA) automatically qualified for the event, 11 teams from North America, EMEA, Brazil, Latin America, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia qualified through circuit points, and four teams qualified through four "Last Chance Qualifiers", held in North America (included teams from Oceania), EMEA, South America (Brazil + Latin America) and Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, South Asia and Southeast Asia)
| Qualification path | Regions | Regions | Regions | Regions | Regions | Regions | Regions |
| Qualification path | EMEA | North America | South America | South America | Asia-Pacific | Asia-Pacific | Asia-Pacific |
| Qualification path | EMEA | North America | Brazil | Latin America | Japan | S.Korea | Southeast Asia |
| Regional Circuit Points (11 spots) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Last Chance Qualifier (4 spots) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| VCT Masters Stage 3 champion (1 spot) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total (16 spots) | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |

### Qualified teams

| Region | Team | Qualified by |
| North America | Sentinels | North America Regional circuit points |
| North America | Team Envy | North America Regional circuit points |
| North America | Cloud9 | North America Last Chance Qualifier |
| EMEA | Gambit Esports | Stage 3 Masters champion |
| EMEA | Acend | EMEA Regional circuit points |
| EMEA | Fnatic | EMEA Regional circuit points |
| EMEA | Team Liquid | EMEA Last Chance Qualifier |
| Brazil | Team Vikings | Brazil Regional circuit points |
| Brazil | Vivo Keyd | Brazil Regional circuit points |
| Brazil | FURIA Esports | South America Last Chance Qualifier |
| Latin America | KRÜ Esports | Latin America Regional circuit points |
| Southeast Asia | X10 CRIT | Southeast Asia Regional circuit points |
| Southeast Asia | Team Secret | Southeast Asia Regional circuit points |
| Southeast Asia | FULL SENSE | Asia-Pacific Last Chance Qualifier |
| South Korea | Vision Strikers | Korea Regional circuit points |
| Japan | Crazy Raccoon | Japan Regional circuit points |

## Group stage

The group stage ran from December 1 to 7, 2022. Groups were decided based on teams' achievements in competitions of Valorant Challengers and Valorant Masters, circuit point, and estimated strength for each region. All 16 teams are divided into 4 groups of four teams each playing in a GSL-style double-elimination format. Games were held in a best-of-three series, and only the top two teams in each group qualified for the playoffs.

### Brackets
#### Group A

| Upper round 1 | Upper round 1 | Upper round 1 | Upper final | Upper final | Upper final |
| Acend | Acend | 2 | | | |
| Vivo Keyd | Vivo Keyd | 1 | | | |
| Vivo Keyd | Vivo Keyd | 1 | Acend | Acend | 2 |
| | | | Team Envy | Team Envy | 0 |
| Team Envy | Team Envy | 2 | Team Envy | Team Envy | 0 |
| X10 CRIT | X10 CRIT | 0 | | | |
| Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower final | Lower final | Lower final |
| | | | Team Envy | Team Envy | 1 |
| Vivo Keyd | Vivo Keyd | 0 | X10 CRIT | X10 CRIT | 2 |
| X10 CRIT | X10 CRIT | 2 | | | |

#### Group B

| Upper round 1 | Upper round 1 | Upper round 1 | Upper final | Upper final | Upper final |
| Sentinels | Sentinels | 2 | | | |
| FURIA Esports | FURIA Esports | 1 | | | |
| FURIA Esports | FURIA Esports | 1 | Sentinels | Sentinels | 1 |
| | | | Team Liquid | Team Liquid | 2 |
| KRÜ Esports | KRÜ Esports | 0 | Team Liquid | Team Liquid | 2 |
| Team Liquid | Team Liquid | 2 | | | |
| Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower final | Lower final | Lower final |
| | | | Sentinels | Sentinels | 1 |
| FURIA Esports | FURIA Esports | 1 | KRÜ Esports | KRÜ Esports | 2 |
| KRÜ Esports | KRÜ Esports | 2 | | | |

#### Group C

| Upper round 1 | Upper round 1 | Upper round 1 | Upper final | Upper final | Upper final |
| Gambit Esports | Gambit Esports | 2 | | | |
| Team Secret | Team Secret | 1 | | | |
| Team Secret | Team Secret | 1 | Gambit Esports | Gambit Esports | 2 |
| | | | Team Vikings | Team Vikings | 1 |
| Team Vikings | Team Vikings | 2 | Team Vikings | Team Vikings | 1 |
| Crazy Raccoon | Crazy Raccoon | 0 | | | |
| Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower final | Lower final | Lower final |
| | | | Team Vikings | Team Vikings | 0 |
| Team Secret | Team Secret | 2 | Team Secret | Team Secret | 2 |
| Crazy Raccoon | Crazy Raccoon | 0 | | | |

#### Group D

| Upper round 1 | Upper round 1 | Upper round 1 | Upper final | Upper final | Upper final |
| Vision Strikers | Vision Strikers | 2 | | | |
| FULL SENSE | FULL SENSE | 0 | | | |
| FULL SENSE | FULL SENSE | 0 | Vision Strikers | Vision Strikers | 1 |
| | | | Fnatic | Fnatic | 2 |
| Fnatic | Fnatic | 2 | Fnatic | Fnatic | 2 |
| Cloud9 | Cloud9 | 1 | | | |
| Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower final | Lower final | Lower final |
| | | | Vision Strikers | Vision Strikers | 1 |
| FULL SENSE | FULL SENSE | 0 | Cloud9 | Cloud9 | 2 |
| Cloud9 | Cloud9 | 2 | | | |

## Knockout stage

The knockout stage began on December 8, culminating in the finals on December 12. Eight teams were drawn into a single-elimination bracket. The top-seeded team of each group was drawn against the second-seeded team of a different group. The teams from same group were on opposite sides of the bracket, meaning they could play each other until the Finals. All matches were best-of-three, except for the finals, which was best-of-five.

### Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| A1 | Acend | 2 | | | | | | |
| C2 | Team Secret | 0 | | | | | | |
| C2 | Team Secret | 0 | Acend | Acend | 2 | | | |
| | | | Team Liquid | Team Liquid | 0 | | | |
| B1 | Team Liquid | 2 | Team Liquid | Team Liquid | 0 | | | |
| D2 | Cloud9 | 0 | | | | | | |
| D2 | Cloud9 | 0 | | | | Acend | Acend | 3 |
| | | | | | | Gambit Esports | Gambit Esports | 2 |
| C1 | Gambit Esports | 2 | | | | Gambit Esports | Gambit Esports | 2 |
| A2 | X10 CRIT | 1 | | | | | | |
| A2 | X10 CRIT | 1 | Gambit Esports | Gambit Esports | 2 | | | |
| | | | KRÜ Esports | KRÜ Esports | 1 | | | |
| D1 | Fnatic | 1 | KRÜ Esports | KRÜ Esports | 1 | | | |
| B2 | KRÜ Esports | 2 | | | | | | |

## Prize pool

| Place | Team | GS | QF | SF | Finals | Prize (%) | Prize (USD) |
| 1st | Acend | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 35% | $350,000 |
| 2nd | Gambit Esports | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 15% | $150,000 |
| 3rd–4th | KRÜ Esports | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | | 9% | $90,000 |
| 3rd–4th | Team Liquid | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | | 9% | $90,000 |
| 5th–8th | Team Secret | 2–1 | 0–2 | | | 4% | $40,000 |
| 5th–8th | Cloud9 Blue | 2–1 | 0–2 | | | 4% | $40,000 |
| 5th–8th | X10 CRIT | 2–1 | 1–2 | | | 4% | $40,000 |
| 5th–8th | Fnatic | 2–0 | 1–2 | | | 4% | $40,000 |
| 9th–12th | Team Envy | 1–2 | | | | 2% | $20,000 |
| 9th–12th | Sentinels | 1–2 | | | | 2% | $20,000 |
| 9th–12th | Team Vikings | 1–2 | | | | 2% | $20,000 |
| 9th–12th | Vision Strikers | 1–2 | | | | 2% | $20,000 |
| 13th–16th | Keyd Stars | 0–2 | | | | 2% | $20,000 |
| 13th–16th | Furia Esports | 0–2 | | | | 2% | $20,000 |
| 13th–16th | Crazy Raccoon | 0–2 | | | | 2% | $20,000 |
| 13th–16th | FULL SENSE | 0–2 | | | | 2% | $20,000 |