Road to TI: The International Returns to Germany

For the second time in 2 years, The International is coming to Europe and this time, it’s returning to Hamburg, Germany for the first time in 14 years. Sure, TI fans probably know it holding tournaments in Seattle, but Germany is where it all got started way back in TI1. This is a real treat for German fans and those who have been following Dota’s premier tournament since day 1.

The International 2025 Location

In their announcement blog, Valve confirmed that The International 2025 will be held at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg, a rather bigger venue than the first time round. This time, there will be 16 teams that make it to the end of the Road to TI through a number of different qualification methods.

We don’t know how many teams will be directly invited by Valve, but at least some of them will. We’ve got a really packed calendar of Dota 2 events in 2025 so there are plenty of opportunities for teams to prove their mettle and earn that spot on Dota’s biggest stage.

Even if they don’t receive an invitation, teams can still qualify through both open and regional qualifiers. There’s still plenty of time for upsets or perhaps the current TI champions Team Liquid will become the second ever team to successfully defend their title.

The International In Game Event

I can’t be the only one who’s still kinda salty about the lack of Battle Passes right? Well, it seems fairly safe to say that Valve will have something up their sleeves and if Gaben blesses us, even Valve time might not stop another in game event coming.

Crownfall has been a huge success and has proven that Valve do actually know what they’re talking about. It has, however, gone on for waaaay longer than originally anticipated. But if they’re able to pull out something of similar calibre in the run up to Dota’s biggest ever event, we may actually see the prize pool increase for the first time in a few years.

The International is in some kind of unspoken battle with the Esports World Cup and the Road to Riyadh to hold its place as the most prestigious event in Dota and I for one hope that means we’ll continue to see such a huge amount of effort going into this game.

Give us the patch GABE

Patch 7.37 is enormously old by esports standards. We never really got a post-TI patch back in September and this patch has been ongoing since July 2024. We don’t have any word from Valve about when a new patch will drop and with FISSURE Playground and BLAST Slam around the corner, we’re likely still going to be stuck for a little while.

It wouldn’t be the first time a patch has dropped mid tournament and while I absolutely love the ensuing chaos, I can only assume the pros wouldn’t agree with me on that one.