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League of Legends World Championship is coming back to North America after six years, and the event is going to be packed with a ton of performances. Here is everything you need to know about this year’s Worlds, including the hosting cities, the dates, participating teams, and the format.
Worlds has come back home to North America!
League of Legends World Championship AKA Worlds is League of Legends’ final annual international event that brings all the best teams around the world to fight for a single title. The tournament series is known for its ceremonial performances and for showcasing the highest level of competitiveness in the competitive League of Legends scene.
It is also regarded as one of the most celebrated events/tournaments in the esports world, with a ton of events and merchandise for players to revel with. Worlds is also famous for being the most-watched esports event in the industry, often exceeding million concurrent viewers.
The United States being the birth land of League of Legends, the legendary tournament series is finally coming back to its homeland for its 12th annual event. Riot announced that the Worlds tournament series will take place across the entire North American continent with four major cities being the hosts of the event. The announced cities and the specific locations are as follows;
- Liga Latinoamerica (LLA) competition arena, Mexico City, Mexico
- Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City
- Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Canada
- Chase Center, San Francisco, California
The very first title held on North American grounds was the 2012 World Championship, where Taipei Assassins went on to win the title. The tournament took place at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. Over 8 million viewers tuned in to watch the action-packed tournament series, making it one of the most-watched live events of the time.
The 2013 title was also held on the US grounds, Culver City and Los Angeles. SKT T1 went on to win the title that year and if you think that the 2012 viewer count was insane, hold on to your pants for this one. The event garnered over 32 million total views on Twitch alone with a record of 8.5 million concurrent viewers, making it the most-watched esports event up to that point.
The title returned to the US once again in 2016 and chose 4 cities as hosts; San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. SKT T1 went on to win and claim their third Championship title that year, and that was the last time a Worlds event had been held in the Americas.
However, after 6 years, Riot has decided to hold the 2022 Worlds in North America. The multi-city hosting strategy is brought back after the COVID-19 pandemic complications, and Riot has decided to include the US, Mexico, and Canada as well as the hosting cities.
Teams, Format, and Dates
The 2022 Worlds is taking the traditional format for this year as well. This includes the play-ins stage, group stage, and the play-offs. Twenty-four teams will be attending this year’s Worlds, including all the summer split champions of the major regional leagues and Mid-Season Invitational champions; Royal Never Give Up (RNG) gets a special ticket. The 24 slots for the Championship are awarded as follows:
- LCK: 3 Group Stage Slots + 1 Play-in Slot
- LEC: 2 Group Stage Slots + 1 Play-in Slot
- LCS: 2 Group Stage Slots + 1 Play-in Slot
- LPL: 3 Group Stage Slots + 1 Play-in Slot
- VCS: 1 Group Stage Slot + 1 Play-in Slot
- PCS: 1 Group Stage Slots + 1 Play-in Slot
- CBLOL: 1 Play-in Slot
- LCL: 1 Play-in Slot
- TCL: 1 Play-in Slot
- LJL: 1 Play-in Slot
- LLA: 1 Play-in Slot
- LCO: 1 Play-in Slot
The play-in stage gives the best performing teams in that stage a chance to fight their way into the group stages. The group stage puts all the qualified teams into 4 groups where the top teams advance to play-offs and the worst-performing teams are eliminated.
The play-offs usually put the best teams from each group fight in a single-elimination bracket and the one who makes their way to the finals and win is crowned as the World Champion. The best part is each of these stages will be held in different cities this year and the venue schedule is as follows;
- Play-Ins: Mexico City, Mexico
- Groups and Quarterfinals: New York City
- Semifinals: Toronto, Canada
- Finals: San Francisco, California
While no official announcement has been made about when the 2022 Worlds will take place, one can make an educated guess by looking at previous years’ events. Obviously, the World Championships start after the summer split, which ends in mid-August.
And according to previous records, the Worlds usually start at the end of September or the beginning of October and run through the first weekend of November. Make sure to clear up your schedules for the spicy action-packed event.
Where can you watch Worlds 2022?
If you aren’t planning to go and spectate the matches live on locations, Riot usually broadcasts all of its major events and matches on all of the major streaming platforms such as Twitch and YouTube, in almost all supported languages. If finding the right stream is confusing for you, just head over to lolesports.com and find out the schedules easily and watch the streams live on the site. You can even easily re-watch your favorite matches or matches you missed right there on the site.
Apart from that, you can also log in to your League of Legends account/ Riot account to opt-in for rewards. Riot gives away in-game loot just for watching live matches, and you can even win other IRL gifts and coupons! Are you excited about this year’s World Championship?