The 2025 Honor of Kings Challenger Cup will officially kick off on December 6th.

The 2025 Honor of Kings Challenger Cup has been upgraded, with the official announcement stating that the tournament will officially open on December 6, 2025, and continue until January 2, 2026. This competition is jointly organized by Tencent, TiMi Esports, and the KPL Alliance, aiming to provide a fair competitive platform for all types of teams and showcase the passion and vitality of esports.  

This year's Honor of Kings Challenger Cup has significantly expanded in scale, featuring eight tracks covering a wide range of participants, including professional leagues, campus leagues, women's tracks, and global tracks. Official announcements indicate that 32 teams will compete, including 18 KPL teams, 3 KGL teams, and teams from other key tracks. Notably, the "Global Track" (KIC World Championship), "Women's Open Track," and "College League Track" have been added to the Challenger Cup for the first time, highlighting the event's "all-people + professional" development philosophy.  

In terms of competition format, this year's Honor of Kings Challenger Cup adopts a brand-new two-stage elimination tournament. The first stage is a single-elimination tournament, where 32 teams compete in two rounds for 8 qualifying spots. A maximum of 4 seeded teams will have their first-round positions fixed, while the remaining teams will have their matchups determined by a draw. The second stage is a double-elimination tournament, where the 8 qualifying teams will compete in the winners' bracket and losers' bracket. Ultimately, the winners' bracket champion and the losers' bracket champion will advance to the grand finals.  

The grand finals will adopt a best-of-nine (BO9) format to enhance the competition's prestige and entertainment value. According to the official schedule, the first two stages of the competition will be held in Shanghai, while the final will take place at the Sanya Baopo International Sports Center Indoor Gymnasium. Furthermore, the "Challenger's Blessing" mechanism will continue to be used, providing participating teams with more strategic options and suspense.  

It's worth noting that the allocation of qualifying slots in this year's Challenger Cup reflects the tournament's diversity and inclusivity. In addition to professional KPL and KGL teams, slots are available for the National Tournament, the Streamer Track, the Youth Training Track, the University League, the Women's Open, and the Global Track. This expansion of tracks not only provides more opportunities for professional teams to compete but also allows more esports enthusiasts, streamers, and campus teams to participate, collectively writing their own Challenger Cup chapters.