Who will win Valorant Champions 2025? A look at the top contenders

Esports & Games Writer

Publish Date: September 7, 2025

who will win valorant champions 2025? Top contenders/favorites for the title discussed

Update (Sept. 30): The playoff stage of VALORANT Champions 2025 has reached its final four matches. Teams like G2 Esports, Team Heretics, GiantX, and MIBR have been eliminated from the tournament. The biggest shock of the tournament occurred when DRX defeated G2 Esports. The top 4 of VALORANT Champions 2025 consist of NRG, FNATIC DRX, and Paper Rex. NRG and FNATIC will face off against each other in the Upper Bracket Finals on October 3rd. DRX and Paper Rex will face off for the first time during a VALORANT Champions tournament. The winner of this match will secure a spot in the Lower Bracket Finals and face the loser of the Upper Bracket Finals.

If FNATIC or Paper Rex go on to win the tournament, they will become the first VALORANT team to win both a VALORANT Champions and a VALORANT Masters Tournament. All the remaining matches will take place in the Accor Arena in Paris. This venue has a total capacity of over 20,000 fans.

Update (Sept. 24): The group stage of VALORANT Champions 2025 has concluded. The first four teams to qualify for the playoffs have been confirmed. The teams are Paper Rex, NRG, Team Heretics, and FNATIC. Following the completion of the second week of the group stage, G2 Esports, GiantX, DRX, and MIBR have secured their spot in the playoffs. Following the draw for the playoffs stage matches, below are the first round matches of the VALORANT Champions 2025 playoffs

DRX vs FNATIC

Paper Rex vs G2 Esports

Team Heretics vs MIBR

GiantX vs NRG

Fan Favourites like Sentinels, EDward Gaming, and Team Liquid lost both their matches in the group stage. This resulted in them getting knocked out of the event. The qualification of Team Heretics surprised many as they defeated the likes of T1 and G2 Esports. Their group is referred to as the group of death. The match that all fans are excited for is the game between G2 Esports and Paper Rex. These two teams have been touted as the favourites to win this tournament. Interestingly, since 2022, FNATIC and DRX have faced each other during every single VALORANT Champions tournament.

VALORANT Champions 2025 is slated to take place between Sept. 12 and Oct. 5. The 3-week tournament will take place in the city of Paris. The top 16 teams from the regional VALORANT leagues will face off in this event. With both the winners of VALORANT Masters Bangkok and Toronto participating in this event, there are no clear favorites to win the event. Here we take a look at teams that have a strong fighting chance to secure the VALORANT Champions 2025 trophy.

Paper Rex: W Gaming to Victory?

The first team on our list of teams who will win VALORANT Champions 2025 is Paper Rex. If there is one team that has been the talk of the town, it’s Paper Rex.

The org finally broke its curse and won VALORANT Masters Toronto 2025.
More recently, they were crowned champions of VCT Pacific after defeating RRQ in VCT Pacific Stage 2.
This team has been known for its incredible gameplay: W Gaming.

The one aspect about this team that is appreciated is their uniqueness. They are not shy to try out new agents and break the meta on various Valorant maps. In the past, they had shown success with agents like Reyna and Harbor, which no other team had picked during significant events. It will be interesting to see how the best Valorant players in Paper Rex’s roster redefines the meta at this event.

G2 Esports: Kings of Consistency

One of the most consistent teams during this season has been G2 Esports. They have become the first team to complete the regional three-peat. During VCT Americas 2025, they have won all regional tournaments: VCT Americas Kickoff, Stage One, and Stage Two. Thus, it is one of the favourites to win this tournament.

Their consistency has not only been evident in regional tournaments but also in international events.
During VALORANT Masters Bangkok, they finished second after losing to T1 in the grand finals.
At VALORANT Masters Toronto, the team finished in 4th place. This year, they have had a win-loss record of 27-6.

No team during the VALORANT Esports 2025 season has lost fewer games than them. It won’t be wrong to predict that this team will finish in the top 4 during VALORANT Champions 2025 as well.

FNATIC: Can FNATIC make history?

The next team on our list is a veteran of VALORANT Esports. This team is also the runner-up of VALORANT Masters Toronto. During the tournament, they were one of the few teams already to have a VALORANT Masters trophy under their belt. This team has played quite fantastically this year:

At the EWC VALORANT tournament, they finished as runners-up as well.
During VCT EMEA Stage Two, this team lost its footing during the playoffs stage of the tournament. They finished in 5th place, which many didn’t expect from this team.

Now in VALORANT Champions, they have an opportunity to write history. If they win this event, they would become the first team to win both a VALORANT Masters event and a VALORANT Champions as well.

Team Liquid: Building Momentum for Champions

Another team to watch out for during VALORANT Champions 2025 is Team Liquid. They secured the VCT EMEA Stage 2 trophy this year.

During the VCT 2025 season, Team Liquid has qualified for all major international tournaments.
While their position wasn’t the highest in either event, they showed their consistency in the regional league.
Having finished third during VCT EMEA Stage One and second during VCT EMEA Kickoff this season.

With new additions to the team, we could finally see the synergy between the teammates during VCT EMEA Stage 2. This resulted in them securing the trophy in a clean sweep against GiantX. Only time will tell if this run in form will help them win their first international trophy and claim the largest share of the VALORANT Champions prize pool.

EDward Gaming: Can EDG defend their title?

If really feels funny calling EDward Gaming the dark horses for this tournament. In 2024, they won VALORANT Champions 2024 in one of the best matches in VCT history. Since then the team has gone through quite a rough patch.

Due to internal team issues, they removed one of the best players in S1mon.
This year, they won the first event of the year, VCT CN Kickoff, and finished third during VALORANT Masters Bangkok.
Since then, the team has been on quite a free fall.

VALORANT Masters Toronto was the first international tournament they failed to qualify for in their history. During VCT CN Stage One, they finished in 4th place, while in VCT CN Stage Two, they finished in 3rd place.

The only reason they qualified for VALORANT Champions 2025 is due to the amount of Championship points they secured this season. In the VALORANT esports power rankings, the team currently sits in 16th place. Currently with very long Valorant odds of 41 (+4000) to win the event. Only time will tell if EDward Gaming will become back-to-back VALORANT Champions winners.

Sentinels: Consistency pays off

The last team on our list of teams who will win VALORANT Champions 2025 is Sentinels. Sentinels are currently the only team to win two VALORANT Masters tournaments. This year the team has been relatively consistent.

Having played in both VALORANT Masters tournaments this year, they finished 8th during VALORANT Masters Bangkok and 5th during VALORANT Masters Toronto.
In the regional leagues, the team also placed quite well. They finished 2nd during VCT Americas Kickoff and Stage One.

During VCT Americas Stage Two, they finished in 3rd place but qualified for VALORANT Champions 2025 due to having 20 championship points. This was the third highest by any team this season, only behind G2 Esports (30) and Paper Res (22). In the VALORANT esports power rankings, the team currently sits in 10th place with a 19-10 win-loss record.

Featured image credits: Riot Games