Eight teams will skip the qualifiers and head straight to the TI 2025 main event.
We're truly in Dota 2's The International season with Valve today revealing the eight squads that have earned a direct invite to the MOBA's pinnacle tournament. Team Liquid, PARIVISION, BetBoom (styled as BB Team), Tidebound, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Spirit, Team Falcons, and Tundra Esports round out the direct invites to TI 2025, most of which hail from Europe.
Valve also announced the dates for each subregional qualifier for TI 2025, with every qualified team for the Hamburg event determined by June 17.
Direct invites expanded to eight, but some big names made to qualify through opens
Valve extended invitations to the world's top eight Dota 2 squads on May 14, announcing the teams via a blog post. The list is solid for the most part with recent LAN champs PARIVISION, Tundra and Liquid all heading straight to the main event.
Falcons and BetBoom have been a consistent forces throughout 2025, and while Spirit has been shaky since PGL Wallachia Season 3, their early season form and runner-up performance at ESL One Raleigh makes them more than worthy of an invite.
There's been some surprise to Tidebound's invite. The Chinese squad's form has been spotty of late, but without their presence, the entire list would have been comprised of teams based in West or East Europe.
Related articles
Valve has also revealed the dates for each region's closed qualifier and the final slot distribution. Only one Eastern European slot is up for grabs with the likes of Aurora, NaVi, and Virtus.pro fighting the region's best in early June.
Two slots are available for those who missed out in Western Europe, with Nigma Galaxy, OG, and MOUZ headlining the closed qualifier invite list. For Team Secret and Clement "Puppey" Ivanov fans, it's looking highly unlikely the team will make it to TI 2025; assuming they can put a squad together in time, they'll need to fight through the opens to make it.
Below is a list of the dates of each region's TI 2025 closed qualifier, the date it'll take place, and the invited teams:
Region, Date, Slot Distribution | Team(s) |
|---|---|
| June 4 to 8 Eastern Europe (1 slot) South America (1 slot) | Eastern Europe: Aurora NaVi NAVI Junior One Move L1GA TEAM Virtus.pro + 4 Open Qualifiers South America: HEROIC OG.LATAM Edge Team Den + 6 Open Qualifiers |
| June 9 to 12 China (1 slot) North America (1 slot) | China: Xtreme Gaming Yakult Brothers + 6 Open Qualifiers North America: Shopify Rebellion Wildcard + 6 Open Qualifiers |
| June 13 to 17 Western Europe (2 slots) Southeast Asia (2 slots) | Western Europe: Nigma Galaxy MOUZ OG AVULUS + 6 Open Qualifiers Southeast Asia: TALON BOOM Trailer Park Boys The MongolZ Ivory Execration + 4 Open Qualifiers |
Exact open qualifier dates for each region are yet to be determined, but Valve has penned in May 31 as the start date with all open qualifiers wrapped by June 5.
Full details about TI 2025 can be found in our main explainer including event format and how to buy tickets to TI, held in Hamburg, Germany.
For more Dota 2 news stay tuned to esports.gg.
