Your Pinoy desk for the The International 2026 schedule and the road to Shanghai

• Shanghai · 13-23 Aug 2026
• TI15 · 16 teams
• Written from Manila

This desk keeps the The International 2026 schedule, the money, the qualifier maze and the team list in one place for readers across the Philippines, so you can plan late nights around Shanghai without hunting through ten tabs.

Dota 2's world championship returns for its fifteenth running, and for once the host city sits in a kind timezone for us. Shanghai is close enough that Manila viewers will not be wrecked at four in the morning, which is a small mercy after years of inconvenient slots. We built this page as a quick orientation, then split the detail across the rest of the hub. If you only read one screen before the first whistle, make it this one.

The shape of the fortnight is simple once you see it laid out. A Swiss group phase opens the event, a short rest follows, and a single-elimination playoff decides the Aegis. We map every block on the schedule page, but the headline is that the action lands across two August weekends rather than one long grind. Mark both in your calendar now.

The The International 2026 schedule at a glance

The opening Swiss rounds carry the The International 2026 schedule from 13 to 16 August, with best-of-three series sorting the sixteen sides into seeds. After that the venue goes quiet for a couple of days while the bracket is set. Treat the rest window as your chance to catch up on sleep before the heavy nights begin.

Playoffs then run from 20 to 23 August as a single-elimination bracket, where one bad series ends a run. Daily start times have not been published yet, and we will add them on the full schedule the moment the broadcast plan appears. Until then, plan around the date blocks rather than the clock.

• Group / Swiss stage: 13-16 August 2026, best-of-three.
• Rest window: 17-19 August 2026, no official play listed.
• Main event playoff: 20-23 August 2026, single elimination.
• Venue: Shanghai, China — a friendly timezone for Filipino viewers.

What sits in the TI 2026 prize pool

The headline number people ask about first is the money, and the confirmed TI 2026 prize pool starts at 1,600,000 USD as a guaranteed base. Valve has not announced any crowdfunded top-up at the time of writing, so we are deliberately not quoting a larger figure. If a Battle Pass or compendium pushes the pot higher, we will update the breakdown rather than guess.

A placement split has not been published either, which means any per-team payout you see floating around is speculation. Our prize pool page puts the base in context against past editions so you can judge it honestly. For now, the safe summary is one confirmed base and no invented extras.

Following the TI qualifiers 2026 and the SEA seat

The field fills through the TI qualifiers 2026, which run as five regional routes: Europe, China, Southeast Asia, North America and South America. For a Philippine reader the SEA bracket is the one worth refreshing, since it carries the regional pride and the names you actually recognise from local scrims. Refresh it often, because the seats fill on staggered windows rather than all at once.

Slots are not split evenly. Europe takes four seats, China two, and SEA, North America and South America one apiece, which adds up to nine qualifier places on top of the seven invites. Some regions have already finished while others are still being fought out, so check the qualifier tracker for the live state rather than trusting an old screenshot.

Watching the TI 2026 standings build

Once the games begin, the live TI 2026 standings are the page that turns a date list into a real story. The Swiss group table sorts the sixteen sides by record, and that ordering decides who gets the kinder side of the bracket. We keep the table ready to fill the moment results land, so you can see the field separate in real time.

The standings page explains how the Swiss table feeds the single-elimination playoff before a single game is played, which is worth a read if you are new to the format. None of it is locked until the final group round resolves. After that, every result on the schedule shifts somebody's seed.

Supporter extras and the TI 2026 teams booked for Shanghai

Valve usually ships in-client cosmetics and The International 2026 supporter bundles around the event, the digital packs that let fans chip in and grab themed rewards. Nothing of that sort has been detailed for this edition at the time of writing, so we are not quoting prices or contents. If the supporter packs appear, we will note what they include rather than guess at figures.

The TI 2026 teams already booked for Shanghai

The TI 2026 teams confirmed so far are the seven direct invites, announced in late May, who skip the regional grind entirely. The rest of the sixteen-side field arrives through qualifiers, and as those conclude we add the names. Rosters always wobble in the weeks before a major, so treat any lineup as provisional until the stage lights come on.

We keep the running list, plus notes on the inevitable post-event shuffle, on the teams page. If you are the type who tracks player movement as closely as the matches, that is the page to bookmark. It updates as invites and qualified sides lock in.

Where to watch, and a word on betting

Every series streams free on Valve's own official channels, from the first Swiss round to the grand final, so you never need a subscription to follow along. Our watch and tickets page covers the feeds and the arena sale notes for anyone tempted to fly over and see it live in Shanghai. There is an English feed plus regional streams, so you can pick whichever caster you prefer.

If you plan to put a little money on the bracket, do it with your eyes open. We keep the The International 2026 predictions angle to a calm guide on how odds work and how to stay in control, not a tip sheet, and you can read it on the predictions page. Betting is strictly for adults; treat any wager as the price of entertainment, never as income.