According to several South-Korean media, the LCK will maintain the same format for the 2026 season as it has in the current year, with a Winter Split structured as a tournament with the LCK Cup. A small new feature will be a “Super Week,” where wins count double. In the playoffs, the top two teams from the Winners Group and the top team from the Losers Group advance directly. The Play-In stage features matches between the 3rd–5th place teams from the first Group and the 2nd–4th place teams from the second.

The regular season, which will begin after the First Stand taking place in Brazil, will be split into four rounds instead of five as it was this year. In the first two rounds, all ten teams will face each other, while in the last two rounds, the ten teams will be divided into two groups (top 5 and bottom 5), allowing extra preparation time for players participating in the Asian Games, which will take place in September.

Intense playoffs, schedule changed

For the Play-In and Playoffs, the duration will be reduced from four to just three weeks while keeping the same number of matches, making the schedule more intense and shortening wait times. Additionally, weekend matches, which originally started at 3 PM KST, will now begin at 5 PM — good news for LCK fans in the CET timezone, who will see match times shift from 7 AM to 9 AM.

So far, among the leagues that have announced their formats, the LCK is the only one to have kept the same structure. The Americas have abandoned the LTA format and returned to the old LCS and CBLOL formats, while LCP 2026 introduces Championship Points, full BO5 playoffs, and 2v2 side selection. The stability of the LCK thus reflects a certain success for their 2025 season, with a Winter Split acting as a kickoff and a single trophy for the entire year, adding prestige.