The International 2025: Could EU’s dominance be broken in Hamburg?

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 10/09/2025

The International 2025 playoffs begin on September 11, after a shocking group stage, which saw Xtreme Gaming, Tidebound, and BetBoom as the top three teams of the Group Stage, qualifying directly for the playoffs.

The unpredictable nature of the tournament continued in the Road to TI Playoffs Elimination Round, where Tundra, deprived of Matthew ‘Whitemon’ Filemon due to Visa issues, eliminated the defending champions of Liquid in a scintillating 2-1 series victory.

Pre-tournament betting odds favourites, Team Spirit, were also eliminated in the Play-in stage, falling 2-0 to Falcons in a series that blew the playoff bracket open.

Upper Quarterfinals are:

09:00 (BST): Xtreme Gaming vs Tundra Esports

12:00: Parivision vs Heroic

15:00: Team Tidebound vs Falcons

18:00: BetBoom vs Nigma Galaxy

TI 2025: EU dominance under threat

The tournament may represent the first real test of European supremacy in almost a decade.

Since the Chinese organisation, Wings Gaming, won TI 2016, Western European and CIS teams have won every iteration of the event.

Xtreme Gaming’s flawless Swiss Bracket has raised the question of whether that dominance is about to end with the Chinese team defeating Aurora, Spirit, Falcons and Tidebound.

Tidebound, who advanced with a 4-1 record, are amongst the few rosters remaining who have two players who have previously won the event, with Zhang ‘y`’ Yiping and Zhang ‘Faith_bian’ Ruid having been part of the famous Wings roster.

With Liquid and Spirit out of the event, the most recent TI winner left is Tundra, but only Neta ’33’ Shapira and Martin ‘Saksa’ Sazdov are present from that 2022 victory over Team Secret.

After the shocking withdrawal of the 2024 and 2023 runners-up, Gaimin Gladiators, from The International, there is a lack of recent TI form present in the tournament, so a clear favourite is hard to decipher.

The tournament is simply the most open TI has been in the last decade. How exciting!

The International 2025 dates, format, and prize money:

The International (TI) 2025 playoffs begin September 11, 09:00 BST in Hamburg’s Barclay’s Arena, ending on September 14, when the winner will take home at least $1,087,666 upon victory in the Grand Final.

The International 2025’s prize pool is currently $2,559,276, though the DotA 2 tournament features a crowdfunding model that results in the prize pool growing throughout the event.

TI’s playoffs are a double-elimination format, with all matches being Bo3 until the Grand Final, which is Bo5.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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