League of Legends: what is LEC?

The League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) is part of Riot Games' esport structure. It regroups 10 teams who own a franchise spot and are thus stabilised in the league. Currently the 10 teams are : Fnatic, G2 Esports, Team Vitality, GiantX, Rogue, Team Heretics, Team BDS, MAD Lions KOI, Karmine Corp and SK Gaming.

Founded in 2019, the LEC started out as a European tournament before being extended to the EMEA region in 2023. But it isn't the first European league League of Legends ever had: it is actually the successor of the LCS EU (League Championship Series Europe), who lasted from 2013 to 2018. Previously divided in two splits, the league is - also since 2023 - structured around a three split seasons : Winter, Spring and Summer.

Every split has a regular season, where each team faces off once in best-of 1 matches. The top 8 teams advance to playoffs while the bottom 2 are eliminated from the split. This means that two teams are eliminated after 9 games only, giving a format that leaves little room for mistakes.

The playoffs format is more straightforward. The remaining teams are placed in a double-elimination bracket - which means that one defeat is permitted, but two mean an elimination - based on the regular season ranking. Whoever wins this bracket is crowned champion of the split. However, being champion of the split - since the three splits format - does not mean much. The title teams are above all fighting for the LEC Season finals one, a separate tournament regrouping the six best teams of the year which grants the LEC trophy to its winner.

In 2024, the six qualifying places for the Season Finals has been dispatched to the following teams: the winner of the winter split, the winner of the spring split, the top three teams from the summer split and the best of the non-qualifying teams in "Championship Points" over the whole season (each team scored points in each split according to its ranking). The Season Finals also partly determine which European teams qualify for the Worlds.

Since 2019, one team has clearly surpassed everyone else : G2 Esports. The german organization, home of star player Rasmus "Caps" Winther, has won 5 titles out of the 9 possible. They are the current title holder as the winner of LEC 2023.

Rogue and MAD Lions (now MAD Lions KOI) are the two other title winners of the LEC, respectively winning two titles in 2021 and 2022. However, historical organization Fnatic can also be considered as a title holder due to their seven total titles in LCS EU from 2013 to 2018. Despite reaching numerous finals, they have not managed to grab any LEC title.

Despite winning the first ever World Championship (Fnatic in 2011), Europe has always been considered inferior to Asia. While its status as a Tier 1 international league is undisputed for LEC, it is slightly under China (LPL) and South Korea (LCK).

LEC is still without question the best league Europe and Middle East Asia have to offer, and is tied for 3rd place in the global ranking of international leagues with North America (LCS).

The LEC usually starts in the end of January and finishes near late August. Riot Games offers an official stream which broadcasts the games in English, however, LEC is also casted by several national broadcasters, including notably but not only a Spanish, German and French stream.

Participating teams are also encouraged to co-stream the event. For instance, Karmine Corp will usually have Kamel "Kameto" Kebir, their owner, co-stream the games. Another co-streaming example is Fnatic, who do so via Marc "Caedrel" Lamont's stream. Ibai Llanos is also streaming the matches of MAD Lions KOI.