Valve announces The International 2025 Direct Invites

Valve has a knack for sweeping the Dota 2 community off its feet. While everyone was eagerly waiting for the new patch to drop, Valve used this opportunity to announce something completely unexpected – The International 2025 direct invites.

Earlier this year, Valve had already outlined its plans for this year's iteration of The International. The teams that received the direct invites will skip the "Road to The International" and begin their journey directly in the main event, putting them just a few series away from getting their names etched on the Aegis of Champions.

Four Western European Teams Received The Direct Invite

Last year, only six teams received a direct to The International 2024. This year, Valve has increased that numbers – a total of eight teams received a direct invite for this year's iteration of The International. Among them, four are from Western Europe, three from Eastern Europe, and one is from China.

The list of the teams that received The International 2025 direct invite is as follows:

• Team Liquid
• Gaimin Gladiators
• Team Falcons
• Tundra Esports
• Team Spirit
• PARIVISION
• BetBoom Team
• All Gamers Global (Formerly Team Tidebound)

Team Liquid will be entering The International 2025 as the defending champions. Despite undergoing a roster shuffle for this season, this team has delivered marvellous performances, and they're only getting stronger with each tournament. Perhaps, we will witness new grounds being broken at this year's TI – only time will tell.

Team Liquid at The International 2024.

Another team to keep an eye out for is Tundra Esports. Led by 33, the two-time TI champion, they have been one of the most dominant forces this season. Despite going through multiple roster shuffles, they secured multiple top seeds in nearly every tournament they participated – a testament to their consistency.

Also, don’t overlook PARIVISION. At first glance, this team may not look like a top contender, but they are the back-to-back Majors champions this season — a feat few teams can claim. That’s not all: except for their showing at BLAST Slam, they’ve consistently placed in the top three at nearly every tournament they’ve attended. Their roster includes Satanic, arguably one of the most promising prodigies in the scene since SumaiL.

All Gamers Global is the only team from China that received a direct invite. Formerly known as Team Tidebound, this team consists of several talented players from the region and a former TI champion.

In their blog post, Valve also announced that the Open Qualifiers for TI will begin on 31st May. So, sit back and have something ready because there's a tidal wave of exciting Dota to witness in the coming months.