Riot Games introduced Valorant collegiate league

Riot Games has announced the start of the first season of Valorant tournaments for colleges. The event will bear the uncomplicated name College VALORANT. There will be a total of three events across four server regions in North America.

All colleges in the US and Canada that have the appropriate accreditation will be able to take part in the Valorant league. The interregional competition will be held with the participation of 32 schools. All championships will end with one common LAN tournament. Riot Games wants to achieve in this way more diligent learning from students and a better attitude towards the learning process.

Due to the fact that League of Legends is significantly different from what is presented in the world of VALORANT, Riot Games could not just take and transfer the existing structure to this title. The organizers of the championship want to build a college league on three pillars: students, long-term prospects, athletic behavior.

Riot Games wants to grow the college league so strongly that it forms its own ecosystem around it, and Riot Games believes that competition in the world of esports can be a great addition to getting a higher education. However, Riot Games doesn't want to tie college and professional esports together, but hope scouts will turn their attention to capable students and college league members.

In order for players to play in the VALORANT academic league, they will still need to be enrolled in a degree program and have been there for at least two years, as well as in the case of League of Legends, and also have a good reputation in school, which was chosen. In terms of age, Riot Games wants to attract players aged 23-24.

In the first season of CVAL (this is how the Valorant league will be called), the organizers will hold three championships in the fall, winter and spring. Each of them will be held separately and have their own prize money, and the culmination of all three tournaments will be the final LAN final, which will be held in Los Angeles. Riot Games does not yet know the exact date, but they give an orientation for May-June 2023.

All interested schools will be able to take part in tournaments that are available in their regions and play on those servers on which it will be convenient for them. The teams that take the first two places will receive a direct invitation to the CVAL LAN finals. The remaining 16 best teams from each division will receive points depending on their places in the standings. The top two players with the most points in each region will also receive invitations to the tournament. How exactly this will be implemented is still unclear, but 32 teams will have to meet face to face in the LAN final.

Each championship will begin with a group stage, which will be held in a round robin system. All participants will cross each other only once. After the group stage, the best teams from each group will be selected to compete in knockout matches. The first two rounds they will play in a round robin and meet each other once, but starting from the third round a double round robin will be used. The maximum group size can be up to 128 participants, however, if there are fewer, then the grid will decrease accordingly.

The LAN Finals events will follow the same format as regular CVAL leagues, however the number of participants will change and all matches will be played in Bo3 format.

To provide the best user and viewer experience, CVAL organizers will work with various tournament operators to run the league. Riot Games is confident that the number and quality of organizers that the creators of CVAL are partnering with will be top notch, and American college students will definitely want to take part in the upcoming league. Riot Games is still reviewing applications from tournament operators and will make its final selection closer to September. Applications will close on August 1st.

League schedule

CVAL Fall 2022

Registration: September 9 - October 7

First phase: October 24 - November 6

Second phase: November 12 - December 12

CVAL Winter 2022

• Registration: November 18 - January 6
• Phase 1: January 16-29
• Phase 2: February 4-26

CVAL Spring 2023

• Registration: January 23 - February 27
• Phase 1: March 13-26
• Phase 2: April 1-30

CVAL Finals 2023

• Online Stage: June 6-21
• LAN final: unknown yet. Approximately June-July

In August, Riot Games will share new details on how the season will play out. The organizers will share new details of the regulations, conditions of participation and the registration process for the championships.