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Valve reveals direct invites to The International 2026

Developer Valve has revealed the six teams who have received direct invites to compete in the main event of The International 2026.

Attention, Dota 2 esports fans! Developer Valve has officially revealed the seven direct-invite teams to The International 2026, this year's crowning event. For those who don't know, The International 2026 takes place in Shanghai, China, from 13 to 23 August 2026.

In a recent blog post, Valve announced the seven teams that have been invited to participate in The International 2026. The rosters were also revealed. Valve explained that:

"Throughout the year, Dota teams around the world battle to prove themselves worthy of direct invitation to The International — and a chance to compete for the Aegis of Champions on the world's biggest stage. Teams that secure invites can begin to focus on their final preparations, while the remaining contenders face one last chance to fight their way in."

Check out the direct invite teams, alongside their confirmed rosters, outlined below.

Team Falcons:

  • Oliver "Skiter" Lepko
  • Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak
  • Ammar "ATF" Alassaf
  • Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen
  • Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu

Tundra Esports:

  • Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko
  • Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov
  • Neta "33" Shapira
  • Matthew "Ari" Walker
  • Matthew "Whitemon" Filemon

Aurora Gaming:

  • Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko
  • Rafli "Mikoto" Fathur Rahman
  • Wei Shen "Ws`" Chung
  • Myroslav "Mira" Kolpakov
  • Oleh "kaori" Medvedok

BoomBoys:

  • Ilia "Kiritych~" Ulianov
  • Danil "gpk~" Skutin
  • Matvey "MieRo" Vasyunin
  • Vitalie "Save-" Melnic
  • Vladislav "Kataomi`" Semenov

Team Liquid:

  • Michael "m1CKe" Vu
  • Michał "Nisha" Jankowski
  • Marcus "Ace" Christensen
  • Samuel "Boxi" Svahn
  • Erik "tOfu" Engel

Xtreme Gaming:

  • Chunyu "Ame" Wang
  • Jin Xiang "NothingToSay" Cheng
  • Jing "Xxs" Lin
  • Linsen "fy" Xu
  • Jian Wei "xNova" Yap

Team Yandex:

  • Alimzhan "watson" Islambekov
  • Ilya "CHIRA_JUNIOR" Chirtsov
  • Dmitrii "DM" Dorokhin
  • Martin "Saksa" Sazdov
  • Arman "Malady" Orazbayev

Stay tuned to Esports Central, as we'll bring you coverage of The International 2026, alongside details on the upcoming qualifier events, with nine (9) spots at the main event yet to be claimed.

Header image via Valve.

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