League of Legends: What Is LPL?

The League of Legends Pro League (LPL) is China's premier League of Legends esports league, featuring 16 franchised teams that are permanently part of the competition. The current teams are: Bilibili Gaming, Top Esports, Weibo Gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas, JD Gaming, LNG Esports, FunPlus Phoenix, Anyone's Legend, Oh My God, LGD Gaming, TT Gaming, Invictus Gaming, Team WE, EDward Gaming, Royal Never Give Up and Ultra Prime.

The LPL was founded in 2013 and initially had only eight teams. Of these teams, three have survived to this day: Invictus Gaming, Oh My God, and Team WE. RNG was there but under the name Royal Club, which is now their academy. Historically, the LPL has always been played with a Spring Split qualifying for MSI starting from 2015 and a Summer Split followed by a regional finals to determine all the Chinese representatives at Worlds. This system has been abandoned since early 2025 as part of the standardization of formats for all Riot Games' League of Legends circuits.

Currently, the format is the same across all regions, with three splits instead of two, The first one qualifies its winner for the new international event, the First Stand. Top Esports is the first team ever to represent China there.

It has now been more than 12 years since China launched its championship, and with one of the largest populations in the world, the talent pool is immense. Naturally, China quickly became one of the best regions in the world, if not the best for a few years. The geographical proximity and the level far above that of other regions made China the legitimate rival of Korea. The two major regions have shared all international trophies since they started playing LoL (except for MSI 2019, won by G2 Esports), with a clear advantage for the LCK (9 Worlds and 3 MSI) compared to the LPL (3 Worlds and 5 MSI).

The LPL has always been a region that heavily imports Korean players, and no Chinese team has ever won Worlds with a fully Chinese roster. It has long been a destination for top talent worldwide, from Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu and Heo "PawN" Won-seok at EDG in the past to Kim "Peyz" Su-hwan and Lee "Scout" Ye-chan at JDG more recently. The region is known for its diversity, but EDG holds the most titles with six LPL championships, followed by RNG and JDG. Many iconic players have competed in China's legendary venues, but the most decorated are Ming "Clearlove" Kai, Li "Xiaohu" Yuan-Hao, and Zhuo "Knight" Ding, each with five championships to their name.

While all regions play their matches in studios created and managed by Riot Games, the LPL is the only league in the world that allows its teams to have their venues. This creates a unique home-game atmosphere, strengthening the connection between teams and their fanbase while fostering a stronger attachment to a specific city. JDG, for example, has its arena in Shanghai, while most teams play over 1,200 km away in Beijing.

As mentioned, the LPL is now divided into three splits, starting in January, while the summer split runs until September. With the rise of co-streaming, several streamers provide coverage of the LPL, and there is also an official English broadcast that follows the league throughout the year. To watch the championship in Mandarin, viewers need to go to Chinese platforms like Bilibili or Huya.