EMEA reports their best win-rate against LCK and LPL teams since the 2020 season

We’re officially two-thirds of the way into the 2026 League of Legends season. The LCK dominated the fierce Summer battles, as and conquered the Mid-Season Invitational and the Esports World Cup, respectively. Still, teams can’t dwell on their laurels because the last stretch before the World Championship is about to begin.

However, the biggest surprise during the 2026 season has come from the West. The LEC representatives have put up some of the most impressive collective performances in recent history. Across the three international tournaments of the season, EMEA has shown they can go toe-to-toe with the best from China and Korea.

This historic season has seen several streaks and curses broken. impressive Round 1 MSI comeback against broke a five-series losing streak and brought Europe its first victory against China after 777 days. On the other hand, the EWC Semifinals were the ideal scenario for to get revenge against after their MSI match.

That’s the age-old question haunting the West’s dreams. Aside from the 2019 season, the EU and NA have been trying to catch up to the East Asian teams. The fans might think these victories are flukes, one-time isolated events, happened during a “Mickey Mouse" tournament, or are a result of the weakened state of several teams. During the current season, several metrics and statistics can help us understand how close this race has been, but this argument relies on one of the simplest stats: the win-loss record.

Going into the third split of 2026, EMEA holds a series head-to-head win-loss record of 6-9 and a roughly 42% win rate in 41 games against both the LCK and the LPL. The most recent year with a similar statistic is the Pandemic Era, when EMEA finished the year with a 39% win rate across 23 games, but a series head-to-head win-loss record of 4-10.

These two years aren’t close at all. G2 and Fnatic had a positive show at the only international event of the 2020 season, the World Championship, yet most of the matches were best-of-one. G2 got the only best-of-five series win against an Asian team when they beat Gen.G 3-0. The final record against the LPL was 2-6 in series and 4-8 in individual games. Meanwhile, the record against the LCK was 2-4 in series but a respectable 5-6 in individual games.

The Pandemic season pales in comparison to the best-of-three and best-of-five-heavy 2026 season. The series head-to-head record sits at 2-4 and the individual game head-to-head at 6-10, keeping the LPL as the hardest opponent for LEC teams. The LCK is a closer affair with a series head-to-head of 4-5 and an 11-14 individual game record.

The 2026 season has, up until now, unfolded as an extremely positive step up in performance for the LEC teams. However, these results pale in comparison to the mythic 2019 season, when G2 won the MSI and reached the Worlds finals. The 7-3 series head-to-head record and 14-9 head-to-head individual game record completely favored the LEC, something the LCK could never catch. However, the LPL was favored with a series record of 5-2 and a head-to-head individual game record of 10-4.

The 2026 World Championship is slowly dawning upon us, and it will be the real test for the European teams to prove to the world that the gap has closed this season. To cap off an impressive year, EMEA will look to repeat and improve upon that fabled 2019 season.