What is a Swiss Stage? And why is the Play-In Stage so important this year? Here you will find the format for this year's World Championships explained.
Worlds 2025 is just around the corner – the biggest League of Legends esports event of the year. But how does the whole thing actually work?
Play-In Stage – October 14, 1:00 am PST (4:00 am EST / 9:00 am BST)
Let's start from the beginning. This year, the Play-In Stage is a huge event: two world champions collide!
T1, five-time world champion and the team of probably the best player in the world, Faker, meets Invictus Gaming, who defeated the European team G2 in the 2018 final. China vs Korea – who gets to go to the Swiss Stage and has a chance of winning the World Championship title?The Play-In Stage consists of a single Best Of Five – meaning: the first team with 3 wins from a series of 5 in total gets to move on, the other is permanently eliminated.
Swiss Stage – October 15–25, Daily At 1:00 am PST (4:00 am EST/9:00 am BST) – Except For Oct 15,16 And 25
First of all: On October 15, 16 and 25, games will start at 10:00 pm PST (previous day) (1:00 am EST/6:00 am BST).
Some of you are already familiar with the concept of the Swiss Stage: all teams start with a score of 0-0, including the team that won the play-ins. After that, all teams will always face another team with the same score.
This means, for example, that anyone who has won once will play against another team that has managed to win exactly once. The first 2 games that a team plays are in a best of one format, the subsequent matchups are in the best of three format.
In the end, 8 teams that have won three times will advance to the Knockout Stage.
Knockout Stage – October 28–November 9
This is where it gets really serious: the Knockout Stage begins with the quarter-finals, right through to the all-important series. Here, all matches are played in a best-of-five format. Who will be this year's World Champion?
Competing Teams
Here is a short table showing which teams are taking part this year:
- Korea (LCK): Gen.G, Hanwha Life Esports, KT Rolster, T1 (Play-In Stage)
- China (LPL): Bilibili Gaming, Anyone’s Legend, Top Esports, Invictus Gaming (Play-In Stage)
- EMEA (LEC): G2 Esports, Movistar KOI, Fnatic
- America (LTA, formerly LCS): FlyQuest, Vivo Keyd Stars, 100 Thieves
- Asia-Pacific (LCP): CTBC Flying Oyster, Team Secret Whales, PSG Talon
Where Can You Watch Worlds?
You have several options for watching the World Championships:
If you log in to the site with your Riot account, you'll even get in-game drops like emotes and icons for watching!
Last but not least: Don't forget your Pick-Ems and get more goodies for the prediction game! Don't know how?