Valorant Champions Tour opens registrations as Philippines joins APAC circuit

MANILA, Philippines — The second year of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) kicks off with a change in the circuit distribution. There will no longer be a Southeast Asia circuit as it will be replaced with the Asia Pacific (APAC) circuit.

During the first year of VCT, teams from South Asia and Oceania were only counted as imports, only able to earn slots through last chance qualifiers in their specific regions of Asia-Pacific and North America. With the tour's return in 2022, teams from South Asia and Oceania will now go up against teams from the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore/Malaysia, and Taiwan/Hong Kong in the newly formed APAC circuit.

South Asia and Oceania will now have fixed slots allocation for the regional playoffs while the Philippines will increase their seed team to three from last year's two.

The Southeast Asia region shocked the world during the 2021 Valorant Champions when two teams from the region, Philippines' Team Secret and Thailand's X10 CRIT, made it to the world's top eight Valorant Teams, keeping up with the likes of Russia's Gambit Esports and North America's Team Envy, showcasing that the Southeast Asian region is not to be underestimated.

Registration for the 2022 VCT APC Challengers is now open via the tour's website. The first stage of the tour will start in the latter part of January.