Overview
Why this sports page exists
This countdown tracks the main event of The International 2026, the flagship Dota 2 world championship held at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai. Sixteen teams are cut to eight before the playoffs decide the Aegis of Champions across August 20-23.
Specificity
What makes this countdown specific
Event
The International 2026
Venue / market
Shanghai · China
Date posture
August 20-23, 2026 · Date confirmed · Confirmed
Source trail
Official / Valve Dota 2 · dota2.com
Content family
sports · Esports
Topic signals
dota 2, the international, esports, valve, ti
Game
Dota 2
Venue
Oriental Sports Center
Teams
16
The International 2026 is kept distinct from neighboring sports countdowns by its concrete source trail (Official / Valve Dota 2 at dota2.com), its date confirmed date signal, and its confirmed confidence label.
The location context for this listing is China. That matters because two pages can share a broad esports label while still serving different reader tasks: travel timing, ticket timing, broadcast coverage, city logistics, or release-window monitoring.
Current event facts on file: game: Dota 2; venue: Oriental Sports Center; teams: 16. These details are included in the main article so the timer has venue, source, and schedule context.
Topic signals used for related-page matching: dota 2, the international, esports, valve, ti. Schema posture: Specific Event date emitted.
Evidence pack
Source, schema, and originality audit
Retention class
Confirmed-source major countdown
Evidence score
9/12 source/detail signals
- Evidence score9/12 signals present
- source name; source URL; source host; public date label; machine date value; location context; 3 fact rows
- Source and schemaCurated confirmed date
- Specific Event date emitted Source trail: Official / Valve Dota 2 at dota2.com.
- Date precisionDate confirmed / Confirmed
- The page can carry a precise Event startDate because the source signal is specific enough.
- Entity grounding3 facts, 5 tags
- Location context: Shanghai, China.
- Editorial depth0 paragraphs, 0 highlights
- The page relies on source confidence, specificity, facts, and related pages until a deeper dossier is available.
- Generation controlCurated event row
- This row is carried by the event catalog directly rather than a franchise template expansion.
Reference data for this countdown
Reference fields include The International 2026's source, date, location, tags, and facts. They make it easier to distinguish this page from adjacent sports countdowns without adding unsupported claims.
Reading the timer
How to use this sports countdown
The International 2026 sits inside the sports calendar as a esports date that readers may revisit as the public details firm up. This page keeps the tracked date, source quality, location context, and release confidence in one place so the countdown is useful without implying more certainty than the source provides.
Right now the key public signal is August 20-23, 2026, with confirmed status and date confirmed precision. That distinction matters. A confirmed datetime is very different from a month-level or date-only signal, and people planning watch parties, travel, ticketing, launch coverage, or newsroom publishing need that nuance instead of a misleadingly precise timer.
We are tracking The International 2026 from Official / Valve Dota 2 plus the official event source. For this page, that means the safest way to read the countdown is as a reference layer: use the timer for awareness, then use the source, precision, location, and event facts together before you commit to travel, viewing plans, promotional scheduling, or time-sensitive announcements.
The most practical reading of this countdown is: The International 2026 is being watched for a globally tracked release or event page, and the current page focus is the main esports milestone rather than every surrounding rumor or speculative date. Game: Dota 2. Venue: Oriental Sports Center.
The International 2026 is a sports countdown, so the page has to orient around match-stage context, venue expectations, and tournament timing rather than entertainment-release language. Sports searchers usually care about the exact round, final, opener, host city, and likely planning window for kickoff coverage or travel. This page currently anchors that context with game: Dota 2, venue: Oriental Sports Center, teams: 16. That is especially useful when several dota 2, the international, esports, valve pages exist in the same competition and need to stay distinct.