This Friday, Riot Games held a press conference ahead of the 2025 Worlds Grand Final, set for Sunday between KT Rolster and the two-time defending champions, T1. Before the media session with the finalists, Chris Greeley, Global Head of
League of Legends Esports, shared several updates. Greeley confirmed that the
Fearless Draft, introduced and made permanent during the 2025 season, will remain in effect for 2026.
Riot also reiterated that the First Stand will take place next year in São Paulo, Brazil. However, the first international tournament of the season will undergo some changes. The
inaugural edition in 2025 featured only five teams—the champions from each major region. In 2026,
eight teams will compete for the title and a chance to succeed Hanwha Life Esports.
Worlds in Texas
The return to the former format for the Americas means the continent will now send two representatives: the champions of both the LCS and the CBLOL. More notably, the LCK and LPL—the strongest regions on the global stage—will each send two teams. The entire tournament will be played in a best-of-five format, marking the end of the Round Robin phase used this season.
Riot briefly mentioned the Mid-Season Invitational, which will be hosted in Daejeon, South Korea, noting that only one team will qualify through the play-in stage. Finally—and most significantly—Riot revealed the full location plan for the 2026 Worlds. While the publisher had previously confirmed that the tournament would be held in the United States, it has now announced that nearly the entire event will take place in Allen, Texas, with the Grand Final set to be held in New York.
It will be the first time since 2013 (outside the COVID years) that Worlds will take place in only two cities. Worlds 2023 also took place in only two cities, but it involved two city changes — with Seoul starting off by hosting the Play-In and Swiss stages, Busan then hosting the quarterfinals and semifinals, and Seoul returning to host the finals.
Header Photo Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
