Valve announces location for The International 2025

27 January 2025

Big news for the fans of Dota 2, and indeed the fans of international esports in general, becausw Valve has just announced the location for The International 2025. The biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year, often referred to as simply TI and considered as the official Dota 2 world championship, will be held at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg, Germany. The entire venue, which hosts up to 16.000 live spectators, will be turned into the global capital for Dota 2 from Thursday, September 11th 2025 to Sunday, September 14th 2025.

Back to the roots

In the world of international esports, The International has grown into a benchmark for both Dota 2 fans and esports fans in general. And with the announcement of Hamburg as the location for the upcoming fourteenth edition of the tournament, publishers Valve are returning to their roots. After all, it was in Germany that in 2011 the first-ever edition of The International was organized, during Gamescom in Cologne.

“That's right”, writes Valve on the official Dota 2 website, “The stars have aligned and the stage is once again being set for cosmic battle. And this time, that battle has returned to where it all began: Germany, the site of The International's humble debut on the world stage, where it was watched in person by many tens of people. Now, fourteen years later, The International returns to Germany, to Hamburg's Barclays Arena September 11 - 14 — in front of, we trust, a slightly bigger crowd this time around.”

As has become tradition, the sixteen best teams in the world will come together in September to battle it out in Hamburg. Before we know which sixteen teams that will be, there is a lot of Dota 2 still to play this year. The contenders will consist of a mix of open qualifier champions, regional qualifier champions and direct invitations. More information about all this will be revealed as the ongoing Dota 2 2025 season progresses.

Records during The International 2024

As we wrote before, The International is one of the biggest international esports events of the year and it has been for many years now. Last year’s edition, for example, recorded peak viewing records during the Grand Finals. Those took place in Copenhagen (Denmark) between Team Liquid from the Netherlands and the Gaimin Gladiators from Canada. The Dutchman clinched the title in convincing fashion, beating their opponents 3-0 in the Grand Final to claim both the prestigious The International 2024 title and $ 1.249.445 in prize money. Their victory was viewed by more than 1,43 million viewers at the peak.

Like last year, Valve is also expected to once again not show any in-game advertisements and sponsorship announcements. These would represent too much of a distraction for both players and viewers. As for the rest of the details regarding The International 2025, such as ticketing and scheduling information, Valve is expected to reveal more over the coming months.