2025 Esports World Cup League of Legends Schedule, Format, Prize Pool

League of Legends is kicking off its second year in the Esports World Cup. Let's explore a full schedule of its 2025 appearance and what esports fans can expect.

After T1's victory in 2025, League of Legends will return to the Esports World Cup on a larger scale. / Esports World Cup

Last year, esports fans watched T1 (and Riot Games Hall of Legends inductee Faker) take the Esports World Cup (EWC) trophy in its first League of Legends competition. In 2025, League of Legends will return to the Esports World Cup on a larger scale than before. Let's explore the key details about the tournament, including its format, schedule and esports implications.

League of Legends at the 2025 Esports World Cup

The 2025 Esports World Cup is an international competition for all forms of esports athleticism. Its representatives describe it as the "premier annual sporting event and global celebration of competitive excellence and esports fandom." The tournament, set in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, includes over 24 titles. It will have the largest prize pool in esports history, with over 70 million USD in total winnings. The EWC crowns individual victors in each game, but it is also a team-based event that ranks participating esports organizations based on their overall performance. It will run from Tuesday, June 8, 2025, to Sunday, August 24, 2025.

Related Article: The 2025 Esports World Cup: Full Schedule, Prize Pool, All Games

League of Legends debuted at the EWC's inaugural event in 2024. However, its 2025 appearance will differ: Riot Games signed an official partnership with the EWC earlier this year, confirming its League of Legends involvement and adding fellow titles VALORANT and Teamfight Tactics. The deal will reportedly last until 2027. This year's event will likely have a larger scale and include more Riot-sponsored activities.

EWC representatives said in a release:

"This year’s League of Legends competition will see even more teams head to Riyadh to compete for a share of the $2 million prize pool and, of course, to help their Club in the Club Championship."

In addition, the 2025 EWC will crown a League of Legends MVP. This MVP will receive a 10,000 USD bonus.

2024 Esports World Cup: League of Legends Format

The 2025 EWC League of Legends tournament will occur in several stages and include 8 teams. Here's a summary of each phase:

• Qualification: Teams enter the Esports World Cup through in-person and online qualifiers at surrounding leagues.
• Group Stage: In this phase, the teams divide into two groups, and seeds 5-12 are based on their Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) performance. Each group contains two double-elimination brackets, all with best-of-one matches, and includes 4 teams. At the end of the Group Stage, the top two teams qualify for the Playoffs.
• Playoffs: this round's seeds 1-4 include the top two Group Stage orgs and the strongest MSI teams. The playoffs are a single-elimination bracket. The Quarterfinals and Semifinals are best-of-three, while the Grand Finals will be best-of-five.

The 2025 Esports World Cup: Full League of Legends Schedule

Now, let's walk through the full 2025 EWC League of Legends Schedule. It's important to note that this schedule covers the main EWC tournament, and more League-related events may also occur at the EWC's Festival convention portion.

• July 16-17: Group Stage occurs.
• July 17-20: Playoffs Stage occurs.
• July 17-18: Quarterfinals occur.
• July 19: Semifinals occur.
• July 20: Grand Finals occur.

Esports Impact

(Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

League of Legends is already one of the world's most popular esports. The title's tournaments regularly break viewership records. The 2024 League of Legends World Championship (Worlds) Grand Finals match between T1 and Bilibili Gaming is the most-viewed esports event ever, with nearly 7 million concurrent viewers according to the data tracking site Esports Charts.

South Korean team T1, the 2024 EWC's League of Legends winner, is widely regarded as one of the most influential orgs. The team has won five Worlds events (the most in the game's history). League of Legends has a huge hold on the Asia-Pacific esports sphere and is in the region's mainstream culture. Esports is seen as a legitimate athletic aspiration, and T1's star player, Lee "Faker" Sang-Hyeok, even earned an exemption from South Korea's mandatory military service after winning the country's 2022 Asia Games (roughly equivalent to an Olympic win for North American readers). The pressure is on for T1 to defend their place as the reigning EWC League of Legends Champions. LoL also has thriving EMEA and North American esports scenes. Europe's LEC and NLC are having a particularly successful year after Los Ratones' meteoric rise.

The Esports World Cup will unite international organizations and allow athletes to intermingle in the same location despite different disciplines. This could consolidate each sport's influence, attracting a broader audience than traditional single-game esports events. In addition, it will further connect League of Legends' existing regional circuits into a streamlined worldwide ecosystem.

Riot Games' recent decisions reflect this mission. In October 2024, the studio combined its League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) and Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLoL) tournaments, consolidating the Americas into a new LoL Championship of the Americas (LTA) league. It has also significantly restructured the pathway to Worlds and could appeal to a fresh generation of players with possible WASD movement options.

Related Article: League of Legends WASD Leaks Leave the Community Split

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