All news: The International

The International is the most massive series of tournaments, and some championships set world records in different years. TI is not only a large-scale, but also an innovative tournament in different vectors. The history of The International began in 2011.

History of international tournaments

The first TI, or The International 2011, was held from 17 to 21 August in the German city of Cologne. The tournament became part of the Gamescom exhibition, where they announced a new era of esports.

For the first time in esports history, a single championship set a $1,600,000 prize pool. The winners of the championship from Valve were the players from Natus Vicenere.

The first TI is often left out of brackets, as it can be interpreted as the “wrong” The International. The fact is that the event turned out to be raw in many respects: there were a lot of bugs in the game, the championship gained publicity only thanks to the prize fund. However, it is quite logical.

First of all, TI 2011 was supposed to promote Dota 2. Accordingly, the event acquired the status of an annual event, and Dota 2 became one of the most popular games in the world and on Steam in particular.

The second milestone in the history of The International was 2013. At TI 3, Valve pioneered the crowdfunding system in Dota 2.

Gabe Newell's company was the first in the industry to introduce the Battle Pass, which revolutionized the monetization of PC games. It functioned as a way to increase the prize pool in Dota 2: in its first year, Battle Pass helped the community double the tournament prize pool from 1,600,000 to 3,200,000.

Alliance were worthy of winning at TI3 after beating NaVi in the final. The last three times reached the grand final, which has not yet been possible for any of the teams. The fight itself was the first full Bo5 final.

In 2014, Dota 2 set the world record for the most wins in the prize pool of a single tournament. The International 2014 was the event where they raffled off $10,923,977. Newbee became the winners of TI4, beating Vici Gaming in the final.

The prize pool has grown every year until 2022. The tenth tournament of The International 2021 series, where the prize pool was $40,018,195, became an absolute record. Team Spirit became the winners of TI2021. The team became the second in history (NaVi was the first in the region to win TI in 2011) Dota 2 team from Eastern Europe, which managed to win the most prestigious tournament from Valve.

All International Championships (2011-2022)

In 11 years of The International tournaments, 10 clubs have won. The only club that managed to win the main tournaments from Valve was OG.

Champions of The International and how much they earned

• The International 2011: NAVI - $1,000,000
• The International 2012: Invictus Gaming - $1,000,000
• The International 2013: Alliance - $1,437,090
• The International 2014: Newbee - $5,025,029
• The International 2015: Evil Geniuses - $6,634,661
• The International 2016: Wings - $9,139,002
• The International 2017: Team Liquid — $10,862,683
• The International 2018: OG - $11,234,158
• The International 2019: OG — $15,620,181
• The International 2021: Team Spirit - $18,208,300
• The International 2022: Tundra Esports - $8,518,822

The scope of The International tournaments is expressed not only in the number of prizes won by the best teams. In the history of The International, there were many interesting moments that have become the property of the discipline.

Facts about The International

The main advantage and engine of popularity of The International has always been the prize fund of the championship. However, the tournament series has one more reason to be proud and fun facts:

Until 2017, The International winners alternated by region: odd-numbered years were won by teams from the west (Europe, North America, CIS), even-numbered years were won by China. From 2017 to 2022, international tournaments were won by teams from Europe and the CIS.

• North America organized most of The International tournaments (6 events), and the team won the main Dota tournament only once (EG at The International 2015).
• Of the 11 tournaments in the series, only three ended in a 5-map final: NaVi - Alliance 2013, OG - PSG.LGD 2018 and Team Spirit PSG.LGD 2021.
• The only team to have won The International twice is OG.
• The only players to have won more than 1 The International were ana, Topson, Ceb, JerAx and N0tail (OG 2018-2019). They are the only ones to defend their title.
• NAVI is the most effective team in the history of The International. The Ukrainian club is the only one in history to reach three TI finals in a row: 2011, 2012 and 2013.
• The largest one-time prize pool in the history of esports was played at The International 2021. The prize pool of the main tournament in 2021 was 40,018,195.

Of the 6 regions of the competitive Dota 2 The International, 4 have won: Western Europe - 5 times, China - 3 times, Eastern Europe (CIS) - twice, North America - once.