June 15, 2026
Raidiant Academy is where the next generation of Valorant Game Changers talent gets its first real reps, and in 2026, five tournaments across the year are open to teams looking to break in. Here’s how to get your squad on the server.
Riot Games changed women’s esports forever when it launched Game Changers in 2022. Talent and grassroots platforms for women and marginalized genders had always existed, but nothing at this scale did. With one tournament circuit, Riot made its position clear: Valorant is for everyone. Four years later, Game Changers has reshaped the FPS scene, produced a generation of top-tier talent, and set the benchmark for esports programs for women worldwide.
However, Game Changers in 2026 has become large. Maybe even too large for new players to truly understand how to get to the main stage. What started as an entry point has matured into a full-fledged competitive circuit, where the teams qualifying today have years of structured play behind them. For a player picking up the game now, the path forward isn’t obvious, and that’s exactly the problem Raidiant Academy was designed to solve.
Here’s how new players can participate in Raidiant Academy and eventually make it to the bigger stages in Valorant.
How to participate in Raidiant Academy
To participate in Raidiant Academy, one of the most accessible esports programs for women in the Valorant scene, players must have a team of five. Individual players are encouraged to join the Raidiant Discord server to find their teammates. Here’s how to participate and find teammates:
- Join the official Raidiant Discord server
- In the left-hand channel menu, scroll until you find the “Raidiant Academy” category
- Within that category, open the channel named “acad-info”
- The pinned or top message contains the current registration link
- Click the link and fill out your team’s registration form
If the form won’t load, it likely means registration is either closed or hasn’t opened yet. The exact registration windows for each event are posted in the same channel, so check the dates before troubleshooting further.
To find a team to play with, go into the channel named “acad-lft-lfp.” Here you can reach out to players and team up with them, and then apply for registration.
It’s worth noting that all Raidiant Academy updates also live on Raidiant’s official X page. New tournament announcements, registration windows, schedule changes, and bracket reveals all get posted there first. If Discord isn’t your primary platform, following the X account is the easiest way to stay in the loop.
Who is eligible to participate in Raidiant Academy
Participating in Raidiant Academy is actually quite simple, especially with five tournaments scheduled throughout 2026. Each event is designed as an entry point, not a gatekept arena, which means you don’t need a sponsorship, a coach, or a polished resume to sign up. What you need is a team, a willingness to compete, and the basic eligibility that aligns with the Game Changers ruleset.
Whether you’re a stack of friends who’ve been grinding ranked together or a newly formed roster looking for your first real match, the Academy is built to give you a starting line. Here’s how to find yours. Each event follows the Game Changers eligibility framework, meaning it’s open to women and players from marginalized genders in North America who meet the program’s criteria.
Here’s what makes Raidiant Academy truly a standout program: It’s not limited to just esports players. Unlike most esports programs for women, which focus solely on the competitors, Raidiant Academy operates like a training institute for the many roles involved in producing a professional esports tournament, and that work doesn’t end with the players on the server.
Casters need reps behind the mic. Observers need real matches to learn how to read the action. Producers, analysts, and broadcast crews all need live environments to sharpen their craft. Raidiant Academy creates that environment for everyone in the pipeline, not just the names on the scoreboard. It’s a development ground for an entire ecosystem.