About the-international-ph.org and Our TI Coverage

This is an independent information hub built for Philippine fans following Dota 2's The International 2026 in Shanghai. We are not Valve, we do not run the tournament, and we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with Valve Corporation, Dota 2, or The International. We carry the event's name because that is what we cover — honestly, and from a fan's point of view.

The site exists to answer the practical questions a viewer in the Philippines keeps asking: when does it start, who has qualified, how big is the prize money, where can I watch, and is it safe to bet. We try to answer each of those clearly, in plain English, with the Filipino audience front of mind — including the timezone advantage the Shanghai host city brings.

How we prepare our coverage

Our approach is deliberately conservative because this is a future event with a lot of moving parts. We work from officially confirmed information and reputable reporting, and we separate what is locked from what is merely reported. When a fact is settled — the 13 to 23 August window, the 1.6 million USD base prize pool, the seven direct invites — we state it plainly. When something is still being decided, such as the live qualifier brackets, we say so and hedge rather than guess.

We update the hub as the picture changes: as qualifiers conclude, as Valve releases the daily broadcast schedule, and as ticket and stream details firm up. What we do not do is invent figures to look authoritative. We will not fabricate match times, placement payouts, ticket prices, or a closed sixteen-team field before the games and brackets decide them. If we cannot verify a number cleanly, we tell you that instead of filling the gap.

Our affiliate transparency

This site is an independent review and information resource. We may earn a commission from links to the sportsbook we recommend, at no extra cost to you. That relationship never changes how we report the tournament — the dates, the teams and the prize pool are reported as they are, regardless of any betting partner. Recommendations on the betting side are framed around how the markets work and how to wager responsibly, not around pushing you to spend.

Gambling carries real risk and is negative-EV over time. Online betting is a grey area in the Philippines and the legal age is 21, so only consider it if you are eligible and comfortable. Throughout the site you will find responsible-gaming reminders and links to free, confidential support, and we treat that messaging as a core part of the job rather than a footnote.

For anything official — the canonical schedule, rules, or ticketing — the tournament's own channels are the authority. We point you toward them in our coverage and focus our own effort on making the event easy to follow from the Philippines. If you spot something on the hub that has gone out of date, that simply means the event has moved on and the page is due for its next update.