- UPDATE!
The 2016 League of Legends World Championship, more commonly called Worlds, is an international esports event that takes place over five weeks of competitive play with the top 16 teams from around the world. The World Championship travels to different host regions, and this year the event will take place in North America.
Here’s the breakdown of the regions with teams competing at Worlds 2016 and how many spots each region gets:
Top teams from LCK, LPL, LMS, NA LCS, and EU LCS receive direct invitations to Worlds 2016, while squads from Wildcard regions qualify via an International Wildcard Qualifier. The teams attending Worlds are:
In addition to international pride and glory, teams are competing for the chance to be the 2016 World Champions, the Summoner's Cup, and a prize pool of over $2,000,000 USD. Teams will earn prize money based on their finish in the event.
Worlds is played out in two stages: A Group Stage followed by a Knockout Stage.
In the Group Stage, 16 teams are sorted into four groups comprised of four teams each. They play in double Round Robin-style, Best of 1 (Bo1) matchups, meaning each team plays every other team in its group twice. Learn more about the process of how we determine which teams will face each other at the Group Stage on our Group Draw Starter Guide. To find out which group your favorite team is playing in, watch the Group Draw Show on September 10 at 11:00 AM PT.
After Groups, eight teams advance to the the Knockout Stage, and matchups will transition to Best of 5 matches in a single elimination bracket. The winner of the Knockout Stage will be crowned our 2016 World Champion at Finals
The Group Stage takes place over two weeks. The Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals will all be held a week apart from one another. For more information about ticket availability, head over to the Tickets page.
Dates: September 29 - October 2 at 4:00 PM PT and October 6 - 9 at 2:00 PM PT Location: San Francisco, CA Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove St., San Francisco, CA 94102
Dates: October 13 - 16 at 5:00 PM CT Location: Chicago, IL The Chicago Theatre, 175 N State St, Chicago, IL 60601
Dates: October 21 - 22 at 6:00 PM ET Location: New York, NY Madison Square Garden, 4 Pennsylvania Plaza, New York, NY 10001
Dates: October 29 at 4:00 PM PT Location: Los Angeles, CA STAPLES Center, 1111 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Stay tuned to Lolesports to cheer on the best teams in the world as they meet on the premier stage during the 2016 League of Legends World Championship starting on September 29.