VCT China Partners for 2027: Eight Teams, Two Newcomers

VCT China is about to get smaller. According to Sheep Esports, Riot Games is set to cut the region's partner teams from 10 to eight for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, and the publication has a reported list of who made the cut.

The names? EDward Gaming, JD Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, TYLOO, All Gamers, Trace Esports, Xi Lai Gaming and Weibo Gaming. That's the lineup Sheep Esports puts forward based on its sources. Riot itself hasn't confirmed any of it, and it hasn't published the full details of how the Chinese league will be structured either. So treat this as a strong report, not an official announcement.

Who's In

Two names stand out. Xi Lai Gaming, better known as XLG, is expected to step up from a guest slot into the partner group. That's a reward for winning Ascension in 2024, and the team has backed it up since. Sheep Esports notes that XLG has appeared at every international LAN since Masters Toronto 2025. For a team that started as a guest, that's a serious track record.

Then there's Weibo Gaming. Its path back is a lot less tidy. Weibo missed out on partnership back in 2023, walked away from VALORANT, and only came back to the scene in early 2026. Now it's reportedly heading straight into the partner group.

EDward Gaming's inclusion is far less surprising. EDG won Champions 2024, which Sheep Esports describes as China's only international title since the current circuit kicked off.

Who's Out

Four current partners are reportedly not coming along for the next cycle: FunPlus Phoenix, Nova Esports, Titan Esports Club and Wolves Esports. Dragon Ranger Gaming, which held a guest slot just like XLG, is also said to be left out.

Wolves is the one that stings. The team turned heads with a surprise run at Masters Toronto 2025, and yet it's reportedly on the outside looking in. A good international showing, it seems, wasn't enough on its own.

Not the End of the Road

Here's the important part: losing partner status doesn't necessarily lock a team out of the big stages. The first VCT partnership cycle started in 2023 and wraps up once the 2026 season is done. Riot is trimming every region down to eight partners, but it's also making the 2027 competitive year more open. Per the original report, teams outside the partner group can still qualify for Cups and Masters events if they build successful projects.

How exactly that works in China is still unclear. Sheep Esports reports that the Chinese format could differ from the setups in the other three regions, which means the qualification rules are an open question for now. Until Riot spells them out, nobody can say how realistic a comeback is for FPX, Wolves or anyone else left out.

Our Take

This report suggests Riot is rewarding recent momentum as much as legacy. XLG earning its way in through Ascension and steady international appearances is the kind of story the partnership model should produce. Wolves getting cut despite Toronto is harder to explain without more context, and that's exactly the problem - Riot hasn't given any yet.

The bigger shift is philosophical. A smaller partner pool paired with open routes to Cups and Masters points to a VCT that relies less on closed slots and more on results. If it works, the line between Tier 1 and Tier 2 gets blurrier, and that's healthy for a scene that has often felt sealed off. If the Chinese rules end up stricter than elsewhere, though, the "open" promise could ring hollow for the teams that just lost their seats.

With the Champions playoffs in Shanghai putting the international spotlight on China this year, it's worth watching how quickly Riot confirms the lineup and the format. As results like G2's sweep of 100 Thieves show, the global field isn't standing still, and China's new eight will need to prove they belong there.