The International 2025 to be held in Hamburg, Germany

Valve has announced that The International 2025, the most important Dota 2 tournament of the year, will take place in Hamburg, Germany. Specifically, the event will be held at the Barclays Arenawith a capacity for 16,000 spectators, from September 11 to 14.

This is the first time The International has been held in Germany since its inaugural tournament in 2011. The inaugural tournament took place during Gamescom in Cologne. In the years since, the tournament has been held around the world in locations such as Seattle, Vancouver, Bucharest, Shanghai, Singapore and, most recently, Copenhagen.

In addition to unveiling the location, Valve has announced that the 16 teams will again be a mix of direct invites, open qualifiers and regional qualifiers. Details about the invites and playoffs have not yet been revealed. The developer has also told fans to “stay tuned” for information on entries and event scheduling.

Dota 2 is one of the biggest esports in the world. The 2024 edition of The International saw a peak audience of 1.43M viewers during the Grand Finals between Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators. Last year, Valve also made the decision not to show in-game ads and sponsorships during the tournament. This was intended to eliminate distractions for players and spectators.

Last year’s finalists will compete against each other in several tournaments leading up to The International 2025. The two teams are among the participants in the BLAST Slam II event, which will take place February 3-9, 2025.

The stars have aligned and the stage is set once again 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 seen in person by many dozens of people. Now, fourteen years later, The International returns to Germany, to Hamburg’s Barclays Arena from September 11-14.

Valve

2025 will be a year full of Dota 2 events organized by various entities, such as ESL FACEIT Group. Alongside the ESL Pro Tour, Valve’s MOBA title will return to the Esports World Cup, while PGL will host three seasons of its Wallachia competition and large-scale LAN competitions.