2025 League of Legends World Championship

The 2025 League of Legends World Championship (Chinese: 2025英雄联盟全球总决赛) was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends, held in China from 14 October to 9 November in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. It was the fifteenth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organised by the game's developer, Riot Games.

China hosted the event for the third time, having previously hosted it in 2017 and 2020. It was the first edition held under Riot Games' new split structure and competitive calendar,^[1] and the first to feature the Fearless Draft format.^[2] Seventeen teams qualified based on placement within their regional leagues and results gained in the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).

The finals took place at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Multifunctional Gymnasium in Chengdu, where T1 of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) successfully defended their title after defeating fellow Korean representatives KT Rolster with a 3–2 scoreline.^[3][4] The organization subsequently won its record-extending sixth World Championship, and became the first team to win three consecutive world titles.^[5] The final's MVP was awarded to Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong, who became the first ADC player to win the award since Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk in 2017.^[6][7]

China first hosted the League of Legends World Championship in 2017, with Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing serving as host cities. The 2020 edition of Worlds was China's second hosting of the event, but was held under restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, prompting Riot Games to stage the event through the use of an "isolation bubble" environment in Shanghai,^[8] with the exception of the Final at the Pudong Football Stadium where a limited number of fans were allowed to attend.^[9]

China was once again awarded the hosting rights to the tournament on 16 June 2021, when Riot Games originally announced the dates and locations of the 2021 League of Legends World Championship, with the event taking place in Shanghai, Qingdao, Wuhan, Chengdu, and the finals taking place in Shenzhen.^[10][11] However, due to travel complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Riot Games announced Reykjavík, Iceland (where the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational had been hosted), as the new host city for the event.^[12]

On 24 October 2024, alongside its announcement of an extended sponsorship agreement with Chinese smartphone manufacturer OPPO, Riot Games announced that the 15th edition of the League of Legends World Championship in 2025 will be staged in China, marking the third time the country has hosted the tournament^[13][14] and the first since 2017 for China to host the event without travel restrictions.

During the media day for the 2024 World Championship Final at The O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom on 1 November 2024, Riot Games announced that the 2025 Final will be held in Chengdu (where the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational had been hosted).

In a development update video published by Riot Games on 8 January 2025 to begin the 2025 competitive season, Beijing and Shanghai were announced as the host cities for the play-in stage / swiss stage, and quarterfinals / semifinals, respectively.^[15][16] Both cities previously hosted the Worlds Final, namely the 2017 and 2020 editions.

The full list of venues for the tournament was announced on 25 July 2025.^[17] The Beijing Smart Esports Center will host the play-in and swiss stages and is the home venue of the League of Legends Pro League's JD Gaming. The Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, which staged the Shanghai Masters of the 2024 Valorant Champions Tour, will host the quarterfinals and semifinals. The finals will be held at the multifunctional gymnasium of the Dong'an Lake Sports Park in Chengdu.^[18]

By virtue of finishing as the two best performing regions in the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational, the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) and the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) will send four teams each to the tournament, three of whom will automatically qualify for the Swiss stage while the fourth seeds will contest the final Swiss stage spot in the play-in stage.^[19] Meanwhile, the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC), League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA), and the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) will have three directly qualified teams to the Swiss stage.^[20]

This will be the first World Championship featuring the LCP, a new Asia-Pacific league consisting of a merger between the Pacific Championship Series (PCS), Vietnam Championship Series (VCS), League of Legends Japan League (LJL) and League of Legends Circuit Oceania (LCO). This will also be the first and only World Championship featuring the LTA, a merger between the League Championship Series (LCS), Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL), and Liga Latinoamérica (LLA). The LTA was announced to be discontinued on 28 September 2025, with the LCS and CBLOL returning in 2026.^[21]

Gen.G of the LCK became the first team to make the tournament on 23 July 2025 through its qualification for the LCK Playoffs and through winning the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational. On 6 September, CTBC Flying Oyster and PSG Talon became the first two teams to qualify from the LCP. The next day, G2 Esports of the LEC became the first Western team to advance to Worlds, with the LTA Conference Champions FlyQuest (North) and Vivo Keyd Stars (South) following suit hours later. On 8 September, Movistar KOI confirmed its qualification for the event. On 13 and 14 September, KT Rolster and Hanwha Life Esports qualified from the LCK, as well as Team Secret Whales from the LCP. Bilibili Gaming became the first LPL team to secure their spot in the tournament on 15 September.

Defending champions T1 of the LCK qualified for the World Championship on 18 September, with the LPL's Anyone's Legend and the LTA's 100 Thieves securing their spot three days later in their respective regions. On 25 September, Top Esports of the LPL confirmed its qualification, with Fnatic being the last LEC team to qualify on 26 September. The next day, the LPL's Invictus Gaming became the final team to clich their spot in the tournament.

This will be the first World Championship appearance for the LPL's Anyone's Legend and the LTA's Vivo Keyd Stars. Meanwhile, it will also be the first tournament for the LCP's Team Secret Whales and the LEC's Movistar KOI under their current names. Secret Whales appeared at the play-in stage of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship as "Lowkey Esports" of the former Vietnam Championship Series (VCS),^[a] while Movistar KOI qualified for seven World Championships prior to its most recent name change in December 2024.^[b]

100 Thieves of the LTA will make its final appearance at the World Championship, as the organization announced on 19 July 2025 that it would leave the league after the conclusion of the 2025 competitive season.^[22]

The teams that qualified for the event are:^[23][24]

Following its introduction during last year's tournament, Riot Games continued to use its Global Power Rankings to evaluate and reflect the overall strength of teams, based on their regional league performances and international event results throughout the season.^[25][26] Ahead of the 2025 League of Legends World Championship, Gen.G ranked first with 1,627 points, followed by Hanwha Life Esports with 1,569 points. T1, the defending champion, placed third with 1,538 points, while Anyone's Legend and Bilibili Gaming rounded out the Top 5.^[27]

The fourth-seeded teams from the LCK and LPL, as a result of obtaining an additional slot from the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational, will play one best-of-five series to determine the last team to qualify for the tournament's swiss stage. Sixteen (16) teams will compete in the swiss stage, where the first eight (8) teams to achieve three (3) wins will advance to the knockout stage, which will be a single-elimination bracket. All matches in the knockout stage are expected to be best-of-fives.

This will also be the first World Championship to adopt the Fearless Draft format, where champions that have been played by either team become unavailable for both teams for the remainder of the series. While Fearless Draft was intended to only be used during the first split of the season, Riot Games announced prior to the final of the 2025 First Stand Tournament that it would apply for the rest of the year, including MSI and Worlds, after it received "overwhelming" positive feedback during that period.^[2] Fearless Draft will be used for all best-of-3 and best-of-5 series during the World Championship.

Being the fourth-seeded teams of their respective regions, T1 of the LCK and Invictus Gaming of the LPL competed in a best-of-five series to determine the final qualified team for the tournament swiss stage. T1 qualified for the Swiss stage, defeating IG in a 3–1 scoreline.^[28]

The Swiss stage was held from 15 to 25 October at the Beijing Smart Esports Center in Beijing, with matches starting at 16:00 CST (UTC+8), with the exception of matches on 15 to 16 October and 25 October, which start at 13:00 CST.^[29] Sixteen teams compete in a Swiss-system format over five rounds. Teams that achieve three wins advanced to the knockout stage, while those with three losses were eliminated. In the first two rounds, all games were best-of-ones, while succeeding rounds had all matches as best-of-threes, except for the 1–1 matches.

After every round, a draw took place to determine each team's next opponent. For the first round, teams were drawn based on seeding, but were drawn based on record in succeeding rounds. The teams were divided in the following tiers for the first swiss stage draw.^[29] In the first round, no two teams from the same region could face each other, while for succeeding rounds, teams cannot rematch against each other but could be paired with a team from the same region.

As T1 won the play-in series against Invictus Gaming, KT Rolster was placed in Tier 2, while Top Esports was assigned in Tier 3.

Source: LoL Esports

All 2–0 and 0–2 matches were best-of-threes, while 1–1 matches continued to be best-of-ones.

The knockout stage took place from 28 October to 2 November for the quarterfinals and semifinals. Unlike previous World Championship knockout stages, the two stages were held consecutively as opposed to having a week-long break in between each. Both stages were held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. After the conclusion of the swiss stage, a draw was conducted to determine the quarterfinal matches, where two teams that finished the Swiss stage with a 3–0 record were placed on opposite sides of the bracket and faced teams with a 3–2 record in the quarterfinals, while all remaining teams were seeded randomly.

Chengdu staged the finals on 9 November at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Multifunctional Gymnasium. All matches in the knockout stage are contested in best-of-fives, with each match beginning at 15:00 CST (UTC+8).

CTBC Flying Oyster's qualification marked the first knockout stage appearance for both the team and the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP), as well as the first from the Asia-Pacific region since 2015, when both Flash Wolves and ahq eSports Club of what was then known as the League of Legends Master Series (LMS) qualified for the knockout stage of that year's edition of the World Championship. It was also the first appearance of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) since 2022 and G2 Esports's first knockout stage since the 2020 edition, also held in China. Anyone's Legend of the LPL also made their knockout stage debut in their first World Championship appearance.

Eight teams qualify for the playoff portion of the tournament from the Swiss stage.

Source: LoL Esports

A base prize pool of US$5,000,000 is offered for the tournament.

In its 11 August 2025 development update, Riot Games announced that the official anthem of the World Championship would be released on 10 October, four days before the start of the tournament. On 19 September, it was revealed that Chinese and Hong Kong singer-songwriter G.E.M. would be the singer of the song, and is expected to perform during the tournament final on 9 November.^[30][31] On 8 October, Riot announced that the anthem, later entitled "Sacrifice", would be delayed three days to 13 October, owing to cutting out FlyQuest's top laner Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau.^[32] Bwipo's removal came after he commented on a September livestream that female pros should not be playing competitively during menstruation.^[33] Riot said that Bwipo was planned to be the only player from the LTA region present in the Worlds anthem's video, and his removal from it was not related to his one-series suspension from FlyQuest during the LTA playoffs.^[33] It would turn out that the Americas region was still represented in the video, with a shot of retired professional player Marcus "Dyrus" Hill of the United States, who played in the then-North American LCS (now known as the League Championship Series) for Team SoloMid from 2012 to 2015 and in four editions of the World Championship from 2011 to 2015.

"Sacrifice" by G.E.M was released on 13 October 2025, alongside a music video featuring players, personalities, and moments from previous World Championship editions as a tribute to the 15th year anniversary of League of Legends esports. The video also most notably features 2011 World Champion and Finals MVP, Maciej "Shushei" Ratuszniak, who died of cancer in April 2025.^[34]

As with every World Championship since 2012, an orchestral theme is released for the tournament. The 2025 Orchestral theme was released on 2 October 2025, composed and arranged by Riot Games composers Alexander Temple and J.D. Spears. It was recorded at the Sony Pictures Scoring Stage in Los Angeles, United States.^[35]

The tournament's official slogan is "Earn Your Legacy" (Chinese: 争者留其名; pinyin: Zhēng Zhě Liú Qí Míng). It was unveiled internationally on 30 September 2025, coinciding with the release of the tournament primer. However, it had been released domestically in China prior to the said date.