All Four Chinese Teams Eliminated at Valorant Champions Shanghai

All four Chinese teams have been eliminated from Valorant Champions 2026 in Shanghai, leaving VCT China without a representative in the playoffs of its home world championship.

TYLOO, Xi Lai Gaming (XLG), EDward Gaming, and JD Gaming all exited the tournament during the group stage. JD Gaming was the last to fall, losing 1-2 to T1 in the Group A elimination match after taking the series to a deciding map on Haven, which T1 won 13-5.

The collapse was total from the start. All four Chinese teams lost their opening best-of-three series without winning a single map, producing a combined 0-4 series record and 0-8 map record after the first round. The region eventually began winning maps, but never won an elimination series.

TYLOO broke China's map drought during its elimination match against Team Liquid, taking Summit 13-7. Team Liquid responded to win the series 2-1 and eliminate the Chinese side.

Xi Lai Gaming were swept by Nongshim RedForce in straight maps, and EDward Gaming were dismantled 2-0 by India's Global Esports, the former world champions falling 26-11 on combined round score across Summit and Sunset.

China entered the 16-team competition with the same four-team representation as the other major VCT regions, meaning one quarter of the entire Champions field came from VCT CN. None survived the group stage.

The result is a sharp reversal from two years ago, when EDward Gaming won Valorant Champions 2024 and became the first Chinese team to lift Riot's world championship trophy.

Based on initial viewership reporting, Valorant Masters London earlier this year became the most-watched VCT event of all time, with Riot's official X account claiming 9.9 million peak viewers. Esports Charts reported 1.07 million peak concurrent viewers without Chinese viewership included.

China's fanbase remains among the largest in global Valorant esports, but the competitive gap with other regions has widened at the worst possible moment for the host region.