The International 2027 will happen, says RAMZES (Team Yandex)

21 September 2026

Those who regularly follow up on our articles and publications, and especially those who follow international esports, know that The International 2026 was recently played, with Team Spirit as eventual victors. The tournament, which serves as the traditional closer of the Dota 2 season, proved to be another great success, though one important element ended up missing. And that is the announcement of the next edition of The International by Valve, the game’s developer, which grew into kind of a tradition over the years.
In a recent stream on Twitch, 5-time Major winner Roman “RAMZES” Kushnarev discussed this unexplained omission. The Russian Dota 2 legend, who is currently a Team Yandex ambassador, took the opportunity to tell fans that, as far as he knows, The International 2027 will take place, despite Valve not having revealed or announced anything about the event yet.

The International 2027 will happen

Some players have started to worry that the omission of an official announcement at the end of The International 2026 means that the 2027 edition might not happen. Valve has not yet addressed these doubts, but RAMZES has. Of course, it remains to be seen to what extent he can speak for the developer, but according to him, there is no doubt about The International 2027 happening. He explained that organizer PGL holds the right to the major international esports event up until 2028, which means the tournament will definitely take place. He just does not know why Valve has not made an official announcement yet, as they usually would.

“The International is supposed to be in Singapore, right?”, said RAMZES in a recent Twitch stream, “I think since PGL is running its tournaments — and they hold the rights until 2028 — The International 2027 will 100% happen. I’m sure of it, no need to worry. It is weird they didn't announce the next TI. No new hero was revealed, nothing at all. Although, who needs new heroes when they still can't balance the existing ones?”

Location

The lack of communication about The International 2027 has also caused a secondary type of doubt to arise in the community, namely regarding the location of the event. This is key information for players and fans alike, as the location determines how the tournament can be viewed and followed. Usually, the location is one of the first things to be revealed by Valve, at the end of the preceding edition as we wrote earlier, but there is no news yet from the developer in this regard, either.

Team Spirits wins The International 2026

As for that preceding edition, it took place very recently. From August 13th to August 23rd, Shanghai hosted The International 2026, which was won by Russian organization Team Spirit. They beat TEAM VISION from Saudi Arabia 2-3 in the Grand Final, pocketing $ 1.619.900 in prize money in the process.

“Congratulations to Team Spirit, Grand Champions at The International 2026”, read the official post-Grand Final press release, “After enduring a challenging year, Team Spirit regained their ultimate form just in time to take a five-game Grand Finals slugfest and claim the Aegis of Champions in Shanghai.”