VCT Challengers 2024 Loan System, Affiliate Partnerships & Two-Way Players Explained

Riot has officially revealed the VCT 2024 Challengers schedule and all the changes and updates that will be made next year in the tier 2 circuit in order to improve it. In 2024, Challengers will run the entire year in order to ensure "a steady rate" of tournaments for tier 2.

Apart from this, Challengers 2024 will consist of two different stages, introducing a Promotion and Relegation event between Challengers and Premier teams at the end of Stage 1. 

In addition to this, Riot has announced some major announcements in order to create more opportunities for players across multiple tiers. They will be introducing  Affiliate Partnerships, Two-Way Players, and Player Loan system in Challengers 2024, and you can have a detailed look at them below:

• Affiliate Partnerships: As a part of this system, International League teams will be able to partner with Challenger and Game Changers teams to collaborate on content and other commercial partnerships. However, one thing to note here is that partnerships with Challengers teams are region-locked, but there is no such restriction for Game Changers team partnerships. These partnerships will also unlock the ability to implement Two-Way players.
• Two-Way Players: With the introduction of Two-Way Players, players who may not be seeing full-time play on the starting roster of an International League team may play down on the Affiliate Partner Team's roster in Challengers and Game Changers, giving those players valuable competitive experience instead of being relegated to the bench.
• Player Loans: In 2024, International League Teams will be able to loan players to teams outside of the International Leagues, such as Challengers or Game Changers teams. However, the catch is these loaned players will not be eligible to compete for their parent team until the loan expires. However, keep in mind that Affiliate Partnerships restrictions are not valid here, so that the player will have a wide range of options.

Riot will announce details about each regional league soon, so make sure to keep an eye on our Valorant section to find the latest news about them.