Earlier this week, Riot Games – the popular video game developer responsible for the cult classic ‘League of Legends (LoL)’ franchise – revealed all the necessary information with regards to the League of Legends World Championships 2020 which is all set to begin on Friday, September 25.

“The 2020 League of Legends World Championship will be held this month (September) in Shanghai, China, to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved,” Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent and Global Head of Esports John Needham confirmed the news last week.

“Hosting the event in a single city will reduce travel throughout the tournament and give us the ability to more closely control the show environment. We continue to use the guidance from various health organizations and local and national authorities to prioritize safety for our players, fans, and everyone involved with bringing Worlds 2020 to life,” LoL Worlds said in a statement.

When and Where

The top teams from the regional leagues around the world will compete in the premier LoL Esports competition, which will begin on September 25 and conclude on October 31.

All the matches in the finals will be held at the Pudong Soccer Stadium, which is the home of the Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG and will host the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.

This also opens up the opportunity for a live audience. While it is yet to be confirmed, Riot says it’s closely monitoring the coronavirus situation in China and if it is safe to allow a live crowd it will facilitate one.

History

Each year, the best professional LoL teams from all around the world gather to compete against one another to prove that they’re the best. 2020 marks Worlds’ 10th year anniversary and 22 teams will hail from 11 regions: Korea, China, Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, Brazil, CIS, Japan, Latin America, Oceania, and Turkey. Each ticket to Worlds is given to teams based on the teams’ performance in their respective regions.

How has team seeding changed for League of Legends World Championships (Worlds) 2020?

For the first time in Worlds history, China (LPL) and Europe (LEC) were given four seeds, based on their Worlds performances in recent years. Additionally, the teams from Vietnam (VCS) are unable to participate at this year’s Worlds due to the government travel restrictions imposed by the Vietnamese government.

As such, all of Korea (LCK)’s three teams were directly seeded into the group stages, due to their dominant international history. Therefore, the seeds for Worlds 2020 are, as follows:

• LPL: 4 seeds
• LEC: 4 seeds
• LCK: 3 seeds
• LCS: 3 seeds
• PCS: 2 seeds
• CBLOL: 1 seed
• LCL: 1 seed
• LJL: 1 seed
• LLA: 1 seed
• OPL: 1 seed
• TCL: 1 seed

What is the prize pool for Worlds 2020?

Riot Games has adjusted this year’s prize pool distribution, stating: “To create a more equitable structure, the first-place prize will be reduced and allocated to the other finishers to better distribute the Worlds prize pool to the remaining competitors, who do not benefit from the sale of the Worlds skins.”

Riot has also reallocated the prize pool to account for the VCS teams unable to attend this year’s Worlds, and is intending to pay out more than 100% of the prize pool this year.

Figure 1: Details of the Prize Pool for Worlds 2020

Worlds 2020 schedule breakdown

Worlds 2020 starts on Sep. 25 with the play-in stage and concludes with the grand finals taking place on Oct. 31. All matches up to and including the semi-finals will take place at the Shanghai Media Tech Studio, and the grand finals will take place at the Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium.

Worlds 2020: Play-ins schedule, format, and groups

The play-in stage will be held Sept. 25-30. 10 teams will be divided into two groups of five and compete in a single round-robin cycle. The first-place teams of each group will advance to the group stages, while the last-place team will be eliminated from the tournament. The 3rd and 4th place team of each group will play in a best-of-5 series, with the winners facing off against the other group’s 2nd place team in a best-of-5, where the winners will then advance to the group stages.

Play-In Group A

• Team Liquid (LCS)
• MAD Lions (LEC)
• Legacy Esports (OPL)
• Papara SuperMassive (TCL)
• INTZ Esports (CBLOL)

Play-In Group B

• LGD Gaming (LPL)
• PSG Talon (PCS)
• V3 Esports (LJL)
• Unicorns of Love (LCL)
• Rainbow7 (LLA)

Worlds 2020: Group stage schedule and format

The group stage will take place from Oct. 3-6 and Oct. 8-11 in a double round-robin format. It consists of the 12 teams that were directly seeded into the group stages and the four teams that qualified via play-in stages. The 16 teams will then be divided into four groups, and the top 2 teams from each group will then advance to the playoff quarterfinals.

Group A

• G2 Esports (LEC)
• Suning (LPL)
• Machi Esports (PCS)

Group B

• Damwon Gaming (LCK)
• JD Gaming (LPL)
• Rogue (LEC)

Group C

• Team SoloMid (LCS)
• Fnatic (LEC)
• G (LCK)

Group D

• Top Esports (LPL)
• DragonX (LCK)
• FlyQuest (LCS)

Worlds 2020: Playoffs schedule and format

Quarterfinals: Oct. 15-18

Semi-finals: Oct. 24-25

Grand final: Oct. 31

The teams will be competing in a best-of-5, single elimination bracket.

When is the Worlds 2020 group stage draw happening?

The 2020 Worlds groups draw took place on Sept. 15, 9 a.m. (PDT). Full broadcast schedule for Worlds 2020 is also available below:

How to watch?

The League of Legends World Championship is broadcast on the official Riot Games Twitch channel. There will be complete coverage of the whole tournament, from play-ins all the way to the final.

Alternatively, you can view all the action from the League of Legends website, where you can also sign up for Pro View. This allows you to watch the action unfold in real-time from whichever angles and perspectives you want, including a POV from any of the players in a game.

Previous winners

The current League of Legends Worlds champions are FunPlus Phoenix from China. They defeated G2 Esports in the 2019 final in Paris to become the second Chinese team in as many years to lift the Summoner’s Cup.

FunPlus Phoenix’s jungler, Gao ‘Tian’ Tian-Liang, was also named as the MVP of the finals.

The full championship-winning roster was:

• Top Lane – Kim ‘Gimgoon’ Han-saem
• Jungle – Gao ‘Tian’ Tian-Liang
• Jungle – Chang ‘Xinyi’ Ping
• Jungle – Xie ‘Minjing’ Ming-Jing
• AD Carry – Lin ‘Lwx’ Wei-Xiang
• Mid Lane – Kim ‘Doinb’ Tae-sang
• Support – Liu ‘Crisp’ Qing-Song

Despite becoming champions in 2019, FunPlus Phoenix will not be defending its title after failing to qualify for Worlds 2020.

This year’s World Championship will be the tenth Worlds since it began in 2011. T1 (previously SK Telecom) is the most successful team of all-time with three Worlds titles.

These are the teams that have won the League of Legends World Championship:

The 2019 Worlds was the biggest yet, breaking Esports viewership records, throwing up tasty storylines and producing an incredible final that saw China’s FunPlus Phoenix steamroll G2 Esports to win their first ever Worlds title. This year’s tournament, LoL Worlds 2020 is set to break even more records.