VALORANT Champions 2026 power rankings: Ranking the top 10 teams

Pavo Jurkic Published September 21, 2026

The 2026 VALORANT Champions Shanghai is just around the corner. There are just 2 weeks until the game’s biggest esports event this year, and VALORANT enthusiasts are already trying to figure out the biggest dark horses.

So far, we’ve seen several late-season surprises as well as regional breakthroughs. Since there’s still plenty of time left to explore your VALORANT betting options, we’re here to showcase the VCT power rankings ahead of the Shanghai spectacle.

We’ll kick things off with the tenth place and build our way to the absolute favorites coming into the final VCT event of the season.

Be sure to follow the latest VALORANT stats and results to see how these teams fare throughout the event. The FPS title is no stranger to upsets, and we don’t expect this edition of the Champions to be an exception.

10. T1

Active roster:

• iZu
• Stax
• Meteor
• BuZz
• Munchkin
• DH

T1 sits in 10th place, after finishing third in the Pacific Stage 2 event. They showed proper tenacity by defeating DRX twice, clean sweeps on both occasions, and managed to find their form in the lower bracket. The problem is, they’ll open the tournament against 100 Thieves, which is bound to showcase the gap between the 10th and the 1st spot on our power rankings.

9. TYLOO

Active roster:

• Slowly
• Scales
• Splash
• Erv
• SiuFatBB

Even though they had a tough start at the China Stage 2 event, TYLOO took things to the next level following their loss to JDG, defeating All Gamers, Nova, and Bilibili with clean sweeps from start to finish.

It will be interesting to see how SiuFatBB, who joined in late June, performs on such a massive stage. But, he’s going to be eased into his role since Sword9 made a switch from player to assistant coach shortly after SiuFatBB’s arrival.

8. LOUD

Active roster:

• Cauanzin
• Lukxo
• Darker
• Erde
• Tkzin (loan)
• DaviH

LOUD is the next team on today’s list. They’re not usually at the top of these lists, but their dominant performances on Americas Stage 2 suggest they might be one of the biggest dark horses in Shanghai.

More precisely, they went all the way to the finals, taking 100 Thieves to the fifth map in what was a nail-biting match. Erde and lukxo are in fine form, and I reckon LOUD will kickstart their Shanghai excursion with a dominant win against EDward Gaming.

7. Team Liquid

Active roster:

• nAts
• Purp0
• Trexx
• Kicks
• kamo

Image credit: Riot Games

After a terrible playoff on EMEA Stage 1, Liquid regrouped and managed to clinch the VCT Champions in Stage 2, eliminating several top contenders, but losing to Karmine Corp in the grand finals. They’re strong across all positions and have a solid map pool. If they kick things off on the right foot, they’ll be a tough nut to crack in Shanghai.

6. Karmine Corp

Active roster:

• Avez
• SUYGETSU
• Dos9
• LewN
• N4RRATE

Karmine Corp greatly underperformed on the EMEA Stage 1 event, only to win the Stage 2 event with a dominant 3:1 win against Team Liquid in the grand finals. They were dominant in the group stage, losing just one match.

Luckily, they managed to transition that fine form into the playoffs, beating Enterprise Esports, FUT Esports, and Liquid. In short, Karmine Corp looks like the strongest EMEA contender coming into the VCT Champions event.

5. NRG

Active roster:

• Ethan
• Mada
• Brawk
• Skuba
• keiko

Now we’ve reached the biggest contenders for winning the 2026 VCT Champions in Shanghai. First up, we have NRG, who’ve finished third at the Masters Santiago and nearly went all the way at the Esports World Cup, having lost to 100T in the grand finals.

Another big strength is the fact that NRG’s core has been playing together for over a year. The newest addition (keiko) arrived in November, which has proven to be enough for him to be a natural fit.

4. Paper Rex

Active roster:

• D4v4i
• f0rsakeN
• Something
• Jinggg
• invy

Next up, we have Paper Rex. f0rsakeN and the boys reached two Masters grand finals this year, but losing on both occasions (in Santiago and London). While they do have proper international pedigree, they seem to be choking in crucial matches, which is something they’ll have to work on if they want a chance at winning the VCT Champions event.

3. Global Esports

Active roster:

• Kr1stal
• udoTan
• Autumn
• Xavi8k
• PatMen

Global Esports are heading into the VCT Champions Shanghai following a series of excellent displays on VCT 2026: Pacific Stage 2. While they did struggle a bit in the group stage, xavi8k and the boys finished off strong.

Despite losing to Nongshim in the upper bracket finals, they had their revenge in the grand finals where they took them to the fifth round and showed them what they’re capable of.

2. Nongshim RedForce

Active roster:

• Xross
• Dambi
• Francis
• Ivy
• Rb

NS RedForce have several things going for them. The Korean team has been in a fine form lately, plus they have strong individual performers across all positions. Not to mention the fact their core (except Rb) has been playing together since late 2024. You can’t get that kind of synergy nowadays, and other teams better be aware of it.

1. 100 Thieves

Active roster:

• Asuna
• Cryocells
• Timotino
• Vora
• bang

Image credit: Riot Games

According to everything we’ve seen this year, 100 Thieves are the shoo-in favorites coming into the Shanghai spectacle. They’ve won VCT 2026: Americas Stage 2 and the Esports World Cup 2026. While they did struggle against NRG earlier this year, they’ve shown us that they can beat them when it matters the most. So, if you’re looking for tangible esports betting predictions leading into VCT Champions, 100T seems like the strongest contender right now.

Summary

That’s right, 100 Thieves are currently at the top of our VALORANT power rankings leading into the Valorant Champions Shanghai 2026 event. The race is wide open, though, but we strongly believe 100T will go very far in the tournament.

The biggest challengers are Nongshim Global Esports, Paper Rex, and NRG. All these teams have a mixture of proper international pedigree, good form in recent months, and sky-high skill ceiling. Leviathan Esports would’ve been proper contenders too, but unfortunately, they failed to qualify for the Champions event in Shanghai.

At the end of it all, it will be interesting to see which of these teams will overperform, and which will succumb to the pressure and drop out early.

Stay tuned for more esports news and VALORANT predictions ahead of the Shanghai event.

Featured image credit: EsportsBetting.com