LoL: Everything You Need to Know About the Esports World Cup

The League of Legends tournament at the Esports World Cup will begin on Wednesday, July 16, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and will feature all the teams that participated in the Mid-Season Invitational, along with two additional teams: Cloud9 and Hanwha Life Esports. The LCK will be the only region represented by more than two teams, thanks to T1's victory at the previous edition of the Esports World Cup a year ago.

The Esports World Cup will be divided into two stages. The first is a GSL-style group stage played in best-of-one matches, featuring eight teams split into two groups. Group A includes FlyQuest, G2 Esports, Cloud9, and FURIA; Group B features CTBC Flying Oyster, Hanwha Life Esports, Movistar KOI, and GAM Esports. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Playoffs.

In the bracket stage, teams are seeded based on their MSI 2025 results. Gen.G and T1, as finalists, will face the teams that advance from groups with a 2–1 scoreline, while Bilibili Gaming and Anyone’s Legend (competing under the AG.AL banner) will face the teams that qualify with a 2–0 record. The Playoffs will be played in a single-elimination format, with best-of-threes for the quarterfinals and semifinals, and a best-of-five grand final. A draw will determine the quarterfinal matchups between Gen.G/T1 and the two 2–1 teams, but also between AL/BLG and the two 2-0 teams.

As previously mentioned, the EWC will begin on July 16 and conclude with the final on the 20th. Wednesday will feature eight best-of-ones, starting with the four opening matches at 11 AM CET: FlyQuest vs. Cloud9, G2 vs. FURIA, CFO vs. HLE, and MKOI vs. GAM. These will be followed by two elimination matches between the 0–1 teams and two qualifying matches between the 1–0 teams.

On July 17, the last two matches between the 1–1 teams will be played, followed immediately by the quarterfinals. Gen.G will open the Knockout Stage around 1 PM CET, facing one of the two 2–1 teams. Around 4 PM CET, BLG will face one of the two 2–0 teams. The same format continues on July 18, with AG.AL and then T1 playing their quarterfinals. The semifinals will take place on Saturday, July 19 (both best-of-threes), while Sunday will feature the third-place match (BO3) followed by the grand final (BO5).

The schedule is downright brutal for the teams competing in these tournaments, especially the four coming from the LCK and LPL who played all the way through MSI. T1 and Gen.G, for example, played the MSI final on July 12 and now have to travel from Vancouver to Riyadh, where the Esports World Cup begins on the 16th.

What follows is even more absurd. The LPL resumes on July 19—just one day before the EWC final—but "at least" AL and BLG aren’t scheduled to play in Split 3 until July 26, when they’ll face each other. The LCK, on the other hand, returns on July 23, with a Gen.G vs. HLE match already lined up. If Gen.G and/or T1 make it to the end of the EWC, they’ll have gone from Vancouver to Riyadh to Seoul in just over ten days, with minimal rest and little time to adjust between time zones.