The biggest Dota 2 tournament in the world, The International 14 (TI14), is starting this week.
Sixteen top-rated teams will come to Hamburg, Germany, to compete for a share of the $2.3 million prize pool and eternal commemoration within the game. It’s the peak of the esports season. Welcome back to The International!
Germany Welcomes World-Class Dota Teams
As with every edition of The International, the location has changed again. This year, Germany is hosting the tournament at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg, a venue that can house up to 16,000 Dota fans.
The tournament starts on 4 September and runs through 14 September. Within 16 participating teams the first seven were directly invited by Valve, while the others had to fight for their spot through the regional qualifiers:
- Team Liquid
- Team Spirit
- Team Falcons
- Team Tidebound
- PARIVISION
- BetBoom Team
- Tundra Esports
- Natus Vincere (Western Europe)
- Nigma Galaxy (Western Europe)
- Aurora Gaming (Eastern Europe)
- Xtreme Gaming (China)
- Yakutou Brothers (China)
- Team Nemesis (Southeast Asia)
- Boom Esports (Southeast Asia)
- Wildcard (North America)
- HEROIC (South America)
Prize pool was $2.3 million at the time of writing, up from the base $1.6 million value. Valve was selling various in-game bundles (Supporter, Talent, and Community), with 30% of the earnings going into the TI14 prize pool.
Betting on The International 2025
Such a massive esports event can’t go by without some exciting betting offers at online sportsbooks. We picked a few welcome bonuses for sites that offer Dota International betting lines:
Who’s going to with The International this year? The odds are in favour of Team Spirit, with bookies giving them 2.60, followed by PARIVISION at 5.00, and Team Falcons at 6.00 odds. These three, along with Team Liquid, are the most favoured to get to the final stage of the tournament, but surprises are always possible.
The International 2025 Format and Schedule
The International won’t be changing its format, staying true to last year’s edition. It starts with the Group Stage, where teams will be playing each other in the Swiss system, in sets of Best of 3 games.
Following this phase, the top three teams advance to the playoffs, while the teams ranked 4th to 13th proceed to the special elimination round, fighting for the remaining five spots in the playoffs. This is all part of the Road to The International, as Valve dubs it.
Speaking of playoffs, they start on 11 September, and this is the main event, simply called The International. It’s a double elimination tournament, also played in sets of Best of 3, with the Grand Final match played as the Best of 5 gauntlet.
You can watch Dota International 2025 via Twitch, YouTube, and even the Steam platform itself. The streams will be available in English, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese, with four streaming channels available for each language, while over a dozen additional languages will have their own dedicated streams.
