Priya Venkatesh has been following the money in esports since before brand deals were considered legitimate marketing. She got pulled into the scene through competitive fighting games and eventually found herself more interested in the contracts and partnerships behind the tournaments than the matches themselves. These days she focuses on how brands navigate esports sponsorships, where the smart money is going, and which deals are actually built to last versus the ones that look good in a press release.
LOUD and T1 secured the final two places in the VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026 playoffs on Sunday 4 October, completing the eight-team field with 2-0 wins over Global Esports and FUT Esports.
According to Sheep Esports, LOUD beat Global Esports 2-0 to secure its playoff berth, taking Split 13-8 and Sunset 13-9. The Brazilian side came through a close first half on Split before winning eight consecutive attacking rounds, then built a 9-3 lead on Sunset and held on to complete the sweep.
In-game leader Roberto “erde” Lobos led LOUD’s series, while T1 also closed out its qualification match in straight maps. The South Korean team beat FUT 13-10 on Sunset and 13-10 on Ascent, with Ham “iZu” Woo-ju singled out for a particularly strong performance.
The results ended the group stage and filled the final two spots in the knockout phase. Both winners remain in contention for the Champions title, while Global Esports and FUT fell short in their decisive matches.
The completed field includes four teams from the Americas and three from Pacific, alongside EMEA representative Team Vitality. T1 joins fellow Asian teams Paper Rex and Nongshim RedForce in the playoffs, and reached the top eight for the first time in its third Champions appearance.
The opening matchups send LOUD against Paper Rex and T1 against NRG. The field brings together teams from three regions for the event’s decisive stage, following a group phase that determined which organisations would continue their title campaigns. The Champions Shanghai format and schedule set the tournament’s broader context, while the leading teams heading into Shanghai offered a snapshot of the regional contenders.
LOUD will face Paper Rex, while T1 meets NRG in the opening playoff round. The loser of either series will drop to the lower bracket rather than be eliminated immediately, keeping a route to the title open while raising the stakes of the next matches.
T1’s first Champions top-eight finish now puts the organisation into a knockout stage alongside established regional rivals, while LOUD will look to build on its decisive close to the group stage. G2 Esports also advanced, continuing a campaign covered in G2’s Champions 2026 group-stage progress .