Their core consists of mainly Spanish players, contributing to their identity as the “Spanish” team from Europe. However, certain regions – such as LPL and LCK, and most recently the LEC, has introduced Bo3 matches when playing in the regular season split. The victors of the playoff series will leave with the glory of a regional champion and the promise of pedigree to compete at an international event. The playoffs stage is the most entertaining part of every split, where teams will play in a Best-of-Five (Bo5) format for all the marbles. Competitive League of Legends employs a set event structure that looks to balance consistency and excitement in a professional league season.
Taking place in the middle of summer during 2026, we can expect nothing less than a clash between the best teams in the world, and a re-telling of the most storied international rivalries. It occurs each fall, in a host country, and brings together the best teams in the world to compete for the Summoner’s Cup and a multi-million dollar prize pool. The League of Legends World Championship, commonly referred to as Worlds, is the final event of the professional League of Legends season. While it is completely separate from League of Legends, Wild Rift is another competitive “circuit,” and has its own tournaments and the Wild Rift League (WRL) in China that is backed by Riot for competitive play. Wild Rift offers the same strategic depth and 5-on-5 gameplay as the original League of Legends on PC while creating matches that are shorter and faster, designed for touch screen controls. As the audience of esports grew, Riot Games worked to allow access to the game beyond PC.
League of Legends Esports Schedule & Live score
- These regions are usually labeled “minor,” but every few years one of them produces a dark horse that knocks out a big favorite and rewrites expectations.
- In Europe, G2 Esports have had the largest impact on the global scene as the most successful team in League of Legends European Championship (LEC) history.
- The World Championships tournament brings together all the top teams from their respective regions, such as LCK (Korea), LPL (China), LEC (Europe) and LCS (North America), to compete against one another for the Summoner’s Cup.
- However, certain regions – such as LPL and LCK, and most recently the LEC, has introduced Bo3 matches when playing in the regular season split.
- Following MSI 2025 in Vancouver, Canada, MSI 2026 will be held in Korea, a historical and one of the most successful regions of League of Legends history.
- On top of MSI and Worlds, we’ve started to see new global tournaments, such as the Esports World Cup and events like First Stand.
- As of 2025, these are the names that occupy the forefront of the game’s legacy — shaping its past and driving its future.
That’s why you’ll often hear casters talk about “the meta” – it’s the evolving set of strategies and champions that teams are trying to master before the next big tournament. That means that we now know all the 12 teams who will be playing in the inaugural LEC Versus split. Seventeen teams from five regions battled for the Summoner’s Cup and a staggering one million dollar prize… Riot Games has set up systems such as Honor rewards, chat filters, and reporting systems, to encourage players to have positive interactions and reduce toxicity in the community.
Alex “Myrwn” Pastor Villarejo shared his thoughts on six-man rosters, confidence after losing the LEC Finals, and being so close to Worlds 2025 playoffs. With more than 20 matches over six days now haven been played at Worlds 2025, here’s a status for how the pick’ems stats are looking. According to Sheep Esports, Busio and Reapered are set to join Karmine Corp for the 2026 season. In an epic five game World Championship 2025 T1 overcame KT to secure their 6th Worlds title – and their third in a row. According to Sheep Esports Karmine Corp has signed DRX midlaner Kang “kyeahoo” Yea-hoo for the 2026 LEC season. Just a week and a half after Worlds 2025 wrapped up, T1 has announced that star ADC Gumayusi is leaving the team.
HLE Viper: “FlyQuest and G2 are teams where you can’t let your guard down”
We do not have an official city released for the tournament, however, it is likely that it would be hosted in either Seoul or Busan, according to the Korean Esports Association (KeSPA) who will select the city. Following MSI 2025 in Vancouver, Canada, MSI 2026 will be held in Korea, a historical and one of the most successful regions of League of Legends history. Worlds 2025 will bring the best of the best together to compete at the premier-level, bringing forth global rivalries, and a never before seen spectacle in League of Legends esports. In 2025, Worlds will return to China from October 14th to November 9th, with the Grand Final taking place in Chengdu, and previous events taking place in Beijing and Shanghai. Regardless of whether on PC or mobile the two versions embrace the same philosophy that is skill, teamwork, and strategy at all levels.
On top of MSI and Worlds, we’ve started to see new global tournaments, such as the Esports World Cup and events like First Stand. If you’re more into history, you can scroll through all past champions and dynasties in the list of LoL Worlds winners. The champions (and sometimes additional seeds) qualify for the mid-year international event, the Mid-Season Invitational.
Iconic moments every LoL fan should know
These games can create intense competitive situations under high pressure, which create frustration and often those situations lead to negative behavior. During the offseason, typically Riot Games makes changes towards preseason to switch up the meta before the start of the new year, this is where a large number of gameplay and format changes will take place. The World Championships tournament brings together all the top teams from their respective regions, such as LCK (Korea), LPL (China), LEC (Europe) and LCS (North America), to compete against one another for the Summoner’s Cup.
The first big checkpoint of every new season is seeing how each LCK Roster looks when the league… Welcome to LOL Esports – your source for the latest news and analysis in the world of esports, especially for the game League of Legends. This allows Riot Games to control updates, security, and player accounts directly through their services. League of Legends isn’t on the Steam client because Riot Games operates its own client/launcher. This is a question that could start an argument between fans, but it would be hard to argue against Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, the legendary mid-laner for T1 (formerly known as SK Telecom T1). The game runs on Windows and MacOS, LoL updates and LoL patches are accessed via Riot’s launcher.
Legacy and Global Impact
They subsequently invested close to $5M for the following competitive season, transitioning what was once community-led tournaments, into a structured professional league. The playerbase began to grow as Riot started engaging the players with consistent new patches, community engagement measures, and esports events. The goal for the two founders was to create a game that would continue to change with players, and not through sequels betista casino login but through updates and a growing competitive environment.
We may still have one full day of games left to go, but the new-look Karmine Corp are already set to finish the 2026 LEC Versus Regular Season as the region’s #1 team. Riot and the regional leagues also share highlights, interviews and short-form content on social channels like LoL Esports on X and the LoL Esports Instagram. Most regional regular seasons are played as best-of-one. Korean teams are famous for slow, controlled early games that explode into perfectly executed fights around dragons and Baron. By the time summer playoffs are done, each region has chosen the teams that will travel to Worlds.
The League of Legends World Championships is the yearly event that culminates the professional LoL season of play. Historic moments within League of Legends history — from Faker’s mystery plays and G2’s international runs — have created a shared history of esports experiences that parallels other sporting events. Having attended multiple Worlds Finals, MSI finals and several LPL championships under his belt, his style of play always has fans waiting for more, as he uses unique champion picks and lane dominance to prove his worth. Bin is known as one of the staple players from the LPL, as he stands tall as the best toplaner in the region. PSG Talon has cemented a place at the top for a Pacific region team, having made consistent appearances at Worlds with consistent high aggression, to begin the game. Team Liquid made a name for themselves in the North American esports sphere by winning 4 LCS championships and even making a run to the MSI Finals in 2019.
It is fitting that MSI would be hosted in Korea — Korea has been the host to some legendary competitions, particularly as it is the home of some of the notable teams (T1 and Gen.G) in the esports world. Once players reach the professional level, the structure of competition starts to take a little more formality. At DreamHack 2010 in Sweden, the first event included just eight total teams and a $100,000 prize pool – which is significantly smaller than the events that take place today, which boast multi-million dollar prize pools. Because everything is tied to patch changes, the game you see at Worlds might look very different from the one you saw at MSI, even though the teams are the same.
Wins or points obtained by the teams during the regular season help determine playoff seedings, where the top seeds will proceed by playing in an elimination playoff stage. During the Regular Season, teams compete in a round robin format to play against EVERY other team in their league. The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) is League of Legends’ premier midseason international event where the best teams from every major region of League of Legends compete in the offseason between the Spring and Summer Splits. From ranked solo queues, up to the World Championship stage, League of Legends has a seemingly endless competitive identity that unites casual gameplay, professional sport, and mobile accessibility into one global system.
The blend of the assorted match formats of Bo1 consistency and Bo5 drama is the appeal of why competitive League of Legends is cited as one of the most strategic, engaging and busiest esports spectacles in the world. This means teams continually react to the balance changes introduced between patches and adaptations to a meta that continues to change. LCS is the only league with different measures, where they always play on the live version of the patch. This type of match format increases the stakes of the split and seriously tests teams on stamina, strategy, and mental fortitude. If you’re even wondering “What League of Legends region am I a part of?” – Your region is automatically determined from your server, for example if you’re playing in North America, you would be from the LCS region.
- We have had some amazing and memorable moments in the League of Legends esports scene.
- Together, these two videos give you a crash course in the plays everyone references whenever a new “insane” moment happens on stage.
- Riot and the regional leagues also share highlights, interviews and short-form content on social channels like LoL Esports on X and the LoL Esports Instagram.
- Under the greatness of Faker, they have reigned over several eras and generations consistently by integrating the veteran leadership and newer players into their system each and every year.
- Every team plays through local splits and playoffs, hoping to earn enough points to reach the global stage.
Every League of Legends Worlds winner from 2011 to 2024, along with the region that lifted the Summoner’s Cup. The controversial owner of X has made a post saying that he wants his AI, known as “Grok”, to beat “the best human team” in League of Legends in 2026. If you want one place to check who is playing for who in China, this is it.
These regions are usually labeled “minor,” but every few years one of them produces a dark horse that knocks out a big favorite and rewrites expectations. Brazil’s CBLOL has one of the loudest fanbases in League, and its champions regularly turn up at MSI and Worlds looking to punch above their weight. The LCS is home to some of the longest-standing orgs and rivalries in LoL esports. Teams draft for skirmishing, fight early, and rarely shy away from coin-flip calls if it means they can blow the game open. These don’t replace Worlds, but they do give fans more cross-region matchups and more chances for underdog regions to take swings at the favorites.
Each region’s Tier 1 league (i.e. LCK, LPL, LEC) runs in seasonal “splits,” with weekly matches, playoffs, and qualification points as a lead up to international competitions, such as the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and Worlds. It starts with regional leagues that fill the calendar all year long and ends with the biggest show in the scene — the World Championship. Each league resulted in a distinct identity, professionalism and fan culture in each of the competitive regions.
In 2011, Riot Games hosted the first League of Legends World Championship which marked the start of the professional era in which the game would grow even further. The first tournaments began in 2010 when the grassroots competition began forming into regional competitions. The game was initially minimal in terms of content with only slightly more than 40 champions and basic graphics.