Following the conclusion of the VCT Americas Stage 2 grand final in São Paulo between 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #1 Cryocells Matthew Panganiban Asuna Peter Mazuryk vora Jordan Pulwer Timotino Timothée Lavigne Dupont bang Sean Bezerra and LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #1 lukxo Lucca Travaioli DaviH David Cruz Darker Sebastián Castro Cicuamia erde Roberto Lobos tkzin Enzo Zimiani loan cauanzin Cauan Pereira , an on-stage draw show was held to sort the world's 16 best teams into four groups for Champions Shanghai.

The 16 teams were sorted into four pools, with each pool divided by the teams' respective regional seedings. All teams were drawn with the only rule being that no teams from the same region could be drawn into the same group. If a team was drawn into the same group as a team in the same region, it was either moved to the next available group or switched with the most recent team drawn.

The final groups are as follows, with the opening matchups below:

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

This year, the top two teams from each region in Stage 2 qualified directly for Champions, while the third and fourth slots were allocated to the two next-best teams in the Championship Points standings.

Champions: Shanghai is set to begin on September 23, with the group stage and playoffs taking place in the Jing'an Sports Center while finals weekend heads to the Mercedes-Benz Arena, the same venue that hosted finals weekend at Masters Shanghai in 2024. The event will run through October 18, with exact times and dates for matches still to be determined.